


Spectacular Specter: The Origin of Phantom

by kimurasato



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-02-06 05:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 84
Words: 247,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1845826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimurasato/pseuds/kimurasato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life had always been fairly mundane for Danny Fenton. School, friends, bullies, and family life. But his world gets turned upside down after an accident gives him strange new powers. As he learns how to control his powers, he  discovers a purpose for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by talks with akiwitch and fastpacedfreefall, who gave me advice and suggestions on some things.

Danny yawned, covering his wide opened mouth with one hand as his sister parked her car in a slot of the school parking lot. When he finished, he glanced up at the building then sank down in the passenger's seat. Another day at school. Wonderful. He already spotted some of the jocks by the back entrance of the school picking on one of the nerds he had seen around sometimes though he wasn't sure of the short man's name. He had stringy brown hair and buck teeth, which earned him a lot of teasing. Danny sighed internally, not looking forward to the bullying he knew was to come.

"You should lay off those late night video game sessions," his sister teased, giving him a poke in the ribs.

"Ugh, Jazz!" Danny complained, swatting at the hand. He twisted around in his seat and snatched up his bag from where he tossed it before climbing into the passenger's seat when they left for school. "We can't all be perfect little students who do nothing but study all the time." After he got out of the car, he slammed the door shut.

"I do more than study," Jazz argued, grabbing her own bag from the back before she got out of the car. "I _do_ have friends, you know." Her aqua eyes narrowed at him as she clutched a baby blue notebook to her chest, falling into step beside her brother as they headed toward the back entrance of the school.

"Do you?" Danny wore a teasing grin as Jazz gave him a shove and huffed indignantly at him.

"You know," Jazz slid her gaze toward him as her mouth pulled downward, "you could really learn to take on some more responsibility. You're not going to be a teen forever. You should try showing a bit more maturity."

Danny rolled his blue eyes and resisted the urge to groan in agony. "Jazz, we aren't going to be teens forever is _exactly_ why you should loosen up every now and then. Come on, sis!" He dropped his hands onto her shoulders and gave her a small shake as he grinned. He felt a smug swell in his chest as he noted he had gained an inch or two over his older sister. "Have some fun for once."

"I have fun," Jazz said as she pulled open the back entrance for them. Luckily, they arrived after the jocks had moved on, spotting their other football buddies to do whatever else jocks did besides act like jerks to everyone they deemed not cool. " _You_ are definitely the one who needs to step it up on the responsibility side."

Danny shook his head as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt. "Whatever you say, Jazz, but I think our definitions of fun differ greatly. I'll catch you after school." He broke away from his sister and headed over to where he spotted his friends hanging out around their lockers.

"I have that student council meeting tonight," Jazz called to him. "So you're on your own for getting home unless you want to wait."

Danny did groan this time, thinking about how boring a student council meeting had to be. He would never understand how his sister could sit through one of them, let alone the weekly meetings they seemed to have. "Okay," he drew out the word even though he knew it made him sound a bit like a whiny brat. But sometimes his sister could sound too much like an overbearing mother hen. "I'll get a ride home then." Or he could simply ride his skateboard home. He always brought it with him, just in case, and Jazz having a student council meeting was a perfect excuse to utilize a bit of afterschool time to work on some skateboard tricks. If his friends didn't offer better afterschool options.

Danny watched his sister continue on down the hall, heading off to meet with her own friends or plan for the meeting with other student council members. With a shake of his head, he reached his locker, spinning the combination lock to open it to get at the books he needed.

"Your sister still bugging you about being responsible?" Sam lifted her eyebrows while she leaned against the lockers with her arms folded.

"Eh, she means well." Danny shrugged and stuffed his books into his bag. "As annoying as that can be." He grinned at his friends. "Well, sounds like I get the afternoon free. You two have plans?" He slung his bag over his shoulder as they walked down the hall, meandering around before the first bell rang.

"I got that robotics club thing today," Tucker said with a frown as he glanced toward Danny. "Sorry, man."

"Hey," Danny reached over and slapped a hand onto Tucker's shoulder, seeing a look in his green eyes that he feared his friend would be hurt because he was busy, "it's okay. You better invite me to that whole robot contest thing. I want to see it when you all finally get it finished."

Tucker joined up with the robotics club in their sophomore year, and he had talked about the robot they were building ever since. Danny liked seeing his friend so passionate about something, feeling eager to see all the hard work his friend did on the robot. The club was supposed to show off their robot in a contest at the end of the year against all the schools in the district, so now the club was working double time to make sure they could actually get it finished in time.

"Of course, man." With a bright grin, Tucker held up a fist, and Danny bumped it with a fist of his own.

"Boys," Sam muttered with a roll of her violet eyes. She reached up to tuck a lock of her ebony hair behind an ear, which, if Danny wasn't mistaken, had a new piercing.

"And what about you?" Danny threw an arm over her shoulders, putting on a charming smile. "Busy after school? We could hit up the Nasty Burger?"

"I wish." Sam groaned, and Danny could already guess what she had to say. "But my mom has 'plans.' And by that, I mean she wants me to attend one of her stupid rich people social benefits where I'm expected to dress up 'like a girl' and put on a fake smile and pretend to be happy and smile at everything everyone says and-"

"You've ranted on this about a million times already," Tucker said, cutting off her grumblings only because it seriously wasn't their first time hearing it. "Can't you," he shrugged, "get out of it somehow?"

Sam's face twisted up like she was getting ready to launch into another frustrated rant about her mother when a thought occurred to her. A wicked smirk curled onto her face as she pulled something out of her bag. "Maybe there is a way I can get out of it." She held up a wad of cash and fanned it out to show off how much money she had on her. "If someone was willing to take me place."

"Sweet money!" Tucker nearly drooled as he reached out to take the money from Sam. Then he snapped out of it and jerked back, folding his arms. "Wait. No. Not worth it to do _that_ again." That being freshmen year when Sam bribed him to dress like her so she could skip school one day when her favorite author was visiting the Skulk and Lurk bookstore for a book signing tour. Tucker, being the type of person who was always looking to make a buck, eagerly snatched up the opportunity to cash in when Sam offered him the money. "Last time, my parents wanted to enroll me into therapy when the principal called them to say I came to school dressed in drag."

Sam frowned, her purple painted lips pursing in displeasure of Tucker's firm rejection. Then she glanced Danny's way. "Think about what you could buy with some extra cash." She flaunted the money in his face with an encouraging smile.

"Yeah, so not happening, Sam." Danny laughed, pushing the money back toward her. "I'm not being caught dead like that."

Sam growled in frustration as she stamped a combat booted foot against the floor. "Why couldn't I have been born into your family?" She stuffed her money back into her wallet then crammed it into her bag.

"You really want to be in my family?" Danny laughed. "With Jazz hounding you all the time?"

"I would take Jazz over my mother every day of the week," Sam said flatly, and Danny actually couldn't blame her. He had met her mother before, and the woman hated him on sight. Apparently from the way he dressed, he had to be a delinquent who would only be a bad influence on her daughter. His thoughts were interrupted when Sam sidled up to him with a coy smile upon her face. "You could come with me," Sam said encouragingly. "You know, for moral support. If I have to sit through this with," her gaze turned down the hall and narrowed harshly at a small grouping of A Listers, "her, I might actually launch myself across the table and stab her with a shrimp fork."

"Yeah, whoa there." Danny grabbed Sam's shoulders and turned her around to guide her the other way down the hall. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea of having a run in with Mr. Popularity himself, Dash Baxter, this early in the morning so the change in their wanderings was doubly beneficial. "Let's not go toward homicidal rampage." He sighed, glancing at Tucker for help, but his friend pointedly refused to look at him as he whistled innocently. "Do I have to dress up for it?"

"I have just the thing in your size." Sam grinned and patted him on the cheek as Danny groaned. Tucker snickered beside them until they both reached over and punched him in the arm.

"You totally had that planned out, didn't you?" Danny demanded as the first bell of the day rang through the halls.

"Who? Me?" Sam feigned innocence as she fluttered her eyes.

Danny gave her a nudge with his arm. "I'll see you later." He waved to his friends then headed off toward his first class of the day. As he walked into the classroom, he rubbed a hand over his face. Why did he let Sam talk him into going to one of those stupid social events for her mother? Not only was it going to be a major bore, but he would be forced to wear a ridiculous suit. He shuddered at the thought, hating suits and how awkward he felt wearing one. But it was Sam, and she would be a nightmare to be around if she went to it alone. Danny slid into his seat, leaning on the desk with another wide yawn. Maybe his sister had a point about not staying up late to play video games.

Before he could even get out his things for class, his chair was pulled out from under him. Danny made an attempt, a poor one, to keep from falling, but his legs got tangled up in the chair. He crashed to the floor with a thud and a clatter from the overturned chair.

"Hey, Fentripper," said an obnoxious nasally voice Danny knew all too well, "have a nice fall?" Laughter followed, the whole classroom exploding into peals of chuckles and giggles, and a blush bloomed across Danny's face as he struggled to right his chair and return to his seat.

"Yeah, real funny, Dash," Danny grumbled, shooting a glare at the blond jock. He was tempted to used the jock's given name, spoil the whole big bad Dash image with the nerdy name, but he held it back, settling for a seething scowl.

"That's enough chatter," their teacher said, his voice raising to reach over the noise of the classroom. His sharp brown eyes swept across the room before fixing upon Danny. "Is there a problem, Mr. Fenton?"

Danny's gaze darted toward Dash, who unfortunately sat beside him. The jock glared at him, his hand curling into a tight fist with a promise of pain if he spoke. "No, Sir," Danny answered quickly.

"Good. Then take your seat. I'd like to begin class now." Their teacher turned around to face the board and began writing notes for their day's lesson.

Danny dropped back onto his chair, once he had it righted, and shot a glare at Dash. The jock smirked smugly as he twisted a pen between his fingers, and Danny didn't miss the still healing cuts upon his knuckles. Danny was happy those scars weren't caused by Dash's fist meeting any part of his body. The feeling didn't last long, his body slouching somewhat as he realized it simply meant some other poor student was the target of Dash's rage instead.

Danny would never go so far as to say he and Dash were ever friends. They had gone to school together ever since preschool, but even before that, their mothers brought them to the same park when they were kids. His memories didn't quite reach far back enough to remember all that, but from what his mother had said, they at least seemed to get along, the way children did at any rate. Then sometime around sixth grade, Dash changed, and for whatever reason, Danny found himself being on the receiving end of the jock's fists. Even with how big their high school was, Danny couldn't avoid running into Dash, especially since they shared classes.

Their first class dragged on as the teacher talked in an overly monotonous tone, which had Danny struggling not to drift off to sleep. Dash occasionally chucking spit balls at him, though, helped to distracted his mind from slipping off to the realm of dreams. Danny swatted at a ball which landed in his hair and glared venomously at the jock, who grinned too widely and showed off perfect pearly white teeth. Sometimes, it made him want to groan. Perfect Dash Baxter. Mr. Popularity with his stupid slicked back blond hair and blue eyes like he was a model out of some magazine selling sporty clothing. He pretty much had it all, except he also had a terrible personality.

As class wound down to an end, Dash leaned across the aisle, balancing with one arm on Danny's desk. "Hey, is your sister free this weekend?" His lip curled in a grin, and his fingers flexed as if to say if Danny messed things up for him, he would regret it.

It was just another reason Dash got on Danny's nerves: the jock's constant hitting on his sister. "Even if she was, I doubt she would ever agree to do anything with you," Danny grumbled, trying to keep his focus on taking down notes. It was the wrong thing to say, and Danny knew it the moment he let the words spill from his lips. He winced as the fist slammed into his shoulder, predictably in the same spot Dash almost always managed to hit. It was by some miracle his upper arm didn't sport a constant bruise from the abuse it took.

"Watch it, Fenjoker!" Dash threatened with a finger pointed at Danny's face, practically stabbing at the other man's eye. "Unless you want a beating after school."

"Is there a problem, Mr. Baxter?" their teacher asked, appearing right before them in the aisle between their desks. His brown eyes glared coldly down his nose, and though he only addressed Dash, Danny knew the man was angry with him too.

"Of course not, Mr. Green," Dash said, wearing his charming grin which usually won over all the teachers, and Danny rolled his eyes with a frustrated gritting of his teeth. Dash could talk his way out of any punishment the teachers might give him.

"I should hope not," Mr. Green said, narrowing his eyes. Then he slapped a paper down on Dash's desk before doing the same to Danny's desk. "Be sure to have these permission slips signed by tomorrow or you won't be able to come on the field trip." Then he continued down the aisle to pass the rest of the permission slips out to the other students.

A smile spread onto Danny's face as he read over the form. Field trips were always a good excuse to get out of a day of classes, but even better, the place they were going to visit was exactly his kind of place. Danny stuffed the permission slip into his bag, eagerly looking forward to the trip on Friday.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny rocked on his feet, giving his teacher a hopeful look as the man read over the permission slip. Last class, final teacher. Once the man signed it and marked down his excused absence on Friday, Danny only needed to have his parents sign the permission slip and he was home free to going on the field trip. He tried to school his expression, keep the excitement from his eyes as his teacher's mouth pursed in consideration.

"I do hope you'll have your homework finished before you go." The man bent down and signed his name on the final period line.

"Oh, of course, Mr. Lancer!" Danny said eagerly, bobbing his head.

Lancer's green eyes narrowed slightly when he lifted his gaze to his student. "I expect good work. I don't want to see you slack off in your rush to get the work done just for the sake of a field trip." He handed the permission slip back to Danny.

"I know, I know." Danny huffed as he folded up the permission slip and tucked it safely into his bag. His excitement over the field trip nearly faded when he remembered how tough a teacher Lancer could be. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt, he frowned and turned his gaze away. "Do all you teachers hang out in the lounge and discuss the impossible amounts of homework you push on students nightly?" he grumbled, thinking about the mountain of homework he would need to do after the whole little benefit he was being forced to attend thanks to Sam.

One eyebrow arched before an amused smile graced Lancer's face. "Is that what students believe?" He wiped a hand over his balding head with a light chuckle he normally wouldn't use during school hours. "I assure you, Danny," Lancer placed his hands on his hips, his potbelly hanging over his belt, "we don't scheme to bury our students under mounds of homework." His mouth curved downward, and he reached up, stroking a hand over his bearded chin. "But if you ever feel like you're falling too far behind in your classes, my door is always open."

Danny nodded. It was one of the things he liked a lot about Lancer. The man could be strict and have high standards for his students, but he cared when it came to helping those struggling to keep up with their classes. "I'll be fine. Though," his mouth quirked a little, "if you can get me out of going to this thing with Sam, I'd really appreciate it."

Lancer laid a hand upon his shoulder. "One must always fulfill one's promises, Danny."

With a groan, Danny turned toward the door of the classroom, not wanting to hear another lecture about responsibilities. He already heard enough about it from his sister. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Lancer." He waved to his teacher then left the classroom and headed down the hall toward his locker.

His mouth pressed thin as he thought about all the homework he had for the night. Too many math problems, already giving him a headache. A report for history and an essay on the book for his English class. What else was he forgetting?

"Go long!"

Danny turned at the shout, and in the next instant, a large body slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground. He grunted under the weight, wheezing from the pressure crushing his ribs. The football hit just beyond his head and rolled a few inches away. He rolled his eyes. Jocks. They always did stupid stuff like this in the halls, despite being told not to a million times by their teachers. The body climbed off him, which Danny was thankful for as he took a full breath again.

"Sorry about that."

A hand hovered before his face, and when he looked up, some relief rolled over Danny as he met with Kwan's apologetic face. If he was going to be tackled by a jock, Kwan would at least apologize for it and not act too much like a major jerk. Danny placed his hand in the one held out to him, and Kwan hauled him up to his feet and helped steady him.

"Didn't hurt you, did I?" Kwan's brow creased with worry, and Danny sometimes couldn't get over how nice the man was considering his best friend was probably the biggest bully in the school.

"No," Danny answered, though his ribs felt a bit bruised.

"Nice going, Fenblock." Dash sneered as he banged his shoulder into Danny. He bent over to pick up the dropped football. "Maybe we should replace the tackle dummies with you. Since you're so good at blocking us." He jabbed the football into Danny's chest, and the corner of his lip curled, his dark blue eyes taunting in their glare as if Dash was waiting on Danny to say something and give him the excuse to punch him.

"Lay off, Dash." Kwan nudged at his friend, almost wedging his way between the other two men. "It was my fault for not looking in the first place."

"So sorry I got in the way," Danny said, resisting the strong urge to roll his eyes at the blond jock. "I'll just leave now so it doesn't happen again." Before Danny could take a step, Dash grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him into the lockers. Maybe saying nothing would have been the smarter option, but his brain had this tendency to shut off and act stupid when it came to dealing with Dash. Kwan placed a hand on his friend's arm, and his mouth opened, but-

"Dash!"

Danny cringed at the familiar voice, a wash of embarrassment heating his cheeks as his gaze slid sideways and he caught sight of his sister storming over to them. Her face pinched with rage, and her aqua colored eyes narrowing dangerously. She placed herself firmly between her brother and the jock then shoved Dash back a step. Kwan wisely put some space between him and them, knowing better than to draw Jazz's anger onto him.

"You," Jazz pointed a finger right between Dash's eyes, "need to stop this." Danny could only see the back of his sister's auburn head, but he knew all too well the angry expression on her face, and judging from the way Dash gulped, Danny was certain he was thinking of the right one. "I've told you a thousand times now to stop messing with my brother. I am not going to sit here and let you hurt him."

"We were just playing around," Dash said, trying to shrug it off like it was all some game.

"Don't even," Jazz growled darkly, and Danny didn't miss the shudder running through the jock. "I'm not stupid. I know exactly what was happening. Leave my brother alone."

"Tch! Whatever." Dash grabbed hold of Kwan's arm and pulled his friend with him down the hall.

"Jazz, seriously!" Danny groaned in exasperation. Didn't his sister get sticking up for him like that only made Dash pick on him even more?

His sister spun around and pinned him with the same heated glare she had used on Dash. "Don't give me that, Danny!" She folded her arms, her mouth pressing into a thin line. "Dash is a bully, and I'm not going to stand for it." Her teeth gritted, and her hands squeezed tightly around her biceps. "He could really be something, but he's just going to end up going down a bad road if he keeps acting out like this."

Danny lifted an eyebrow. "And you're going to be the one to change the way he acts?"

Jazz snapped her gaze back to him, and Danny flinched. "Someone has to believe in him. If no one tries, he has no reason to believe in himself." She took a deep breath, calming her anger. "Anyway, I'm going to be late for that student council meeting if I don't get going now." She stood up straighter, the way she always did when she was trying to act like a responsible adult talking to an irresponsible child. "Try not to stay out too late if you decide to go anywhere. Call Mom and Dad if you are going to be late. And don't forget about your homework."

"You really don't need to give this same speech every time, Jazz." Danny shook his head. "I'm not five anymore."

Jazz stared skeptically as one eyebrow inched upward. "Maybe you're not, but you still have a habit of hanging out with your friends until after dark then playing video games the rest of the night."

"Not always," Danny muttered, glancing away. "You should get going. Don't want to be late or anything."

"Oh, right! See you at home!" Jazz tossed him a quick wave before she hurried off down the hall.

Danny rolled his eyes as he headed to his locker again. Still halfway down the hall, he sighed when he spotted Sam leaning against the lockers waiting for him with her arms folded and her foot tapping impatiently. He didn't want to go to this thing any more than Sam did, but he _had_ promised and Lancer was right about keeping his promise. If he was lucky, Sam would have some quick exit plan so they could escape after only a short amount of time. Reluctantly, he made his way over to her then twisted the lock to open his locker.

"So we can stop by my place and get dressed," Sam said, her voice dry as she seethed over having to attend the benefit. "Then off to whatever dumb benefit my mom has planned this time."

"You don't even know what it is?" Danny stuffed his books into his bag as he shot his friend a quizzical look. After he slung his bag over his shoulder, he slammed his locker shut and gave the lock a quick spin.

Sam's shoulders hunched up as she pushed away from the lockers. "Once she gets talking, I tend to tune her out. She can be," she rolled her eyes, and Danny stepped aside to avoid being punched if his friend decided to lash out, "rather long winded."

Danny sighed tiredly but followed after Sam. "This is going to suck, isn't it?"

"Don't they always?"

"From the way you describe them, yeah." Danny shoved his hands into his pockets as they walked down the hall toward the back exit of the school which led out to parking lot. "I'm going to look really stupid in whatever I have to wear, aren't I?"

Sam turned her head slightly toward him as her eyebrow quirked up a touch. "You're an idiot sometimes." She shook her head as they left the school and walked toward her car.

"Huh?" Danny blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just get in the car." Sam pulled open the door and slid onto the driver's seat without another word.

Danny scratched at the back of his head, frowning at his friend's comment. But he climbed into the passenger's seat, stowing his bag on the floor. When Sam turned the key and brought the engine to life, Danny cringed at the blast of music coming from the radio. Heavy metal, of course, and he bet it drove Sam's parents crazy whenever she played it in the house. The drive took less than half an hour, and Sam parked her car right outside the front door. Danny eyed the house - more like a mansion - warily with the feeling of being a poor beggar looking for donations from a royal family. In general, he tried to avoid Sam's house and her parents as he preferred not having people sneer down their noses at him.

"Stop being a baby." Sam nudged him forward toward the front door. "My parents aren't even home right now. Dad's still at work, and Mom's already at this stupid event."

"Yeah, well," Danny grumbled as the door opened for them. "That still leaves all your servants." He cringed back at the glare of the stuffy looking butler who opened the door.

"Don't mind Harold. He gives all our guests that look." Sam waved to the middle aged man before leading Danny upstairs to her bedroom.

"Really, Sam? All of them? Or just me and Tucker?"

Sam frowned, turning back to him as she stood in the doorway to her room. "Okay, mostly just you and Tucker. But my parents are always having their stupid snobby friends over for dinner parties. I'd rather be at your house hanging out most nights. Even if I do have a bowling alley and movie theater in the basement," she muttered the last part.

"I wouldn't mind having them in my basement." Danny grinned as he followed his friend into her bedroom.

"What is in your basement anyway?" Sam stared with great interest shining in her violet eyes. When Danny shrugged innocently, Sam's mouth tugged downward as her eyes narrowed with a touch in disbelief. "Anyway," she brushed past the topic as she strolled over to her closet, "here's your suit." She pulled the hanger from the hook on the back of her closet door. "You can change in the bathroom down the hall."

"Ugh," Danny groaned with a shudder as he stared at the suit presented to him. "You're lucky I'm such a good friend. And no more tricking me into things like this."

"Oh yes. You're just the sweetest." Sam patted his cheek then pushed him toward the door of her room. "Now hurry up. The sooner we get there, the sooner I hope we can get out of it."

"Ah, so you _do_ have plan." Danny smirked as Sam rolled her eyes. Taking the suit, he headed down the hall from her bedroom to the bathroom, which made his own bedroom feel like a closet with how big it was. He could probably swim laps in the bathtub if he wanted. With a shake of his head, he stripped out of his clothes and changed into the suit consisting of dark ashy gray slacks and a white dress shirt.

Danny stared at his reflection in the mirror as he did the matching gray tie. He struggled with it for a moment, growling as he tried to recall his father showing him how to properly knot a tie. After a few attempts, he succeeded, his mouth curving into a proud smile. It was a perfect fit, he noted as he made sure everything was straight and proper in the mirror. Sam really had this all planned out, and it irritated him to know Sam knew he would agree to this. Danny gathered up his clothes and stuffed them into his bag before he stepped out of the bathroom. He almost jumped when he found Sam already waiting for him, leaning against the wall.

"Had some trouble?" Sam smirked. "I thought girls were supposed to be the ones to take forever getting ready."

"Ha, ha." Danny rolled his eyes before looking over what Sam wore. His eyebrows lifted in surprise when he saw she wore a suit like him instead of some fancy dress. But the black dress slacks and dark purple-black dress shirt fit her quite well.

"My mom said I had to dress up," Sam explained as she led the way back downstairs. "She didn't specify that I had to wear a dress."

"Loopholes. Nice." Danny chuckled. "See ya later, Harold." He held up his hand for a high five as he passed the butler on their way out of the house. Harold merely glared at him then turned his head away with a sharp sniff. "Always great seeing you." Danny jogged down the walkway to catch up with Sam as they returned to her car.

"One of these days, I think he might actually try to kill you." Sam gave him a flat stare as if trying to silently tell him to stop messing with the staff in her house.

Danny shrugged, half grinning. "Whatever. Let's get this thing over with."

Sam snorted a laugh as the engine roared to life and the music on the radio pounded loud enough to rattle Danny's eardrums.


	3. Chapter 3

Danny eyed the building before him as Sam led the way up to the open double doors at the top of the white marble stairs. Sam grabbed his hand when Danny lagged behind, dragging him through the doorway and into the grand entrance hall. The white of the inside nearly blinded Danny, and he wanted to shy away from the stark, spotless world of the wealthy, but Sam refused to release his hand from her death grip. They crossed the entrance hall, and the stares following Danny didn't surprise him. He probably gave off some sort of middle class aura the wealthy could pick up on with a single look.

"Samantha!" Standing in the doorway to room where the benefit was being held, Mrs. Manson placed her hands on her hips, and a smoldering glare upon her pinched face of displeasure. Put next to each other, the difference in mother and daughter stood out sharply. Mrs. Manson's auburn hair was perfectly styled with not a single hair out of place and a slight curl at the ends brushing over her shoulders. Where Sam dressed in black and other dark colors, her mother wore bright pink, and expensive looking, dresses.

"Sam," she corrected with a pursing of her purple lips. If Danny had learned anything about his friend, it was that she hated being called Samantha.

Mrs. Manson bristled at the correction, her expression twisting as if she sucked on something particularly sour. "What happened to the dress I laid out for you?"

"I dressed appropriately," Sam argued, unaffected by her mother, unlike Danny, who currently wanted to blend into the shadows and disappear to avoid an awkward situation.

"You know full well that you were supposed to wear a dress to this."

"Too late now." Sam shrugged off her mother's rage. "It would take me _forever_ to drive back home and change, and by then there would hardly be any point in coming back because I would have missed everything."

Mrs. Manson's expression soured, if possible, even further then snapped her attention onto Danny. "And what is _he_ doing here?" Her tone actually made him flinch because it sounded like she was referring to him as a piece of trash being brought in to dirty up their perfectly clean home.

"I invited him," Sam answered with great finality in her voice. "And now we're holding up the line so we should just go inside already." She hooked her arm around one of Danny's arms then dragged him through the doorway past her mother without another word or a second glance.

Danny did glance back, however, and caught sight of Mrs. Manson gasping like a fish out of water in response to her daughter's rudeness. "Your mom is so never letting me near your house again."

"Like she hasn't threatened that before." Sam rolled her eyes.

"You do know that your mom just wants the best for you, right?"

Sam glared as if he had betrayed her, and Danny cringed away but her hold on his arm prevented him from escaping. "She might think she knows what's best for me, but I'm almost an adult. I should be able to make my own decisions about my life. If I just follow everything she wants me to do, then I'm nothing but a mindless lemming doing what I'm told. I don't want to be some stay at home wife of some rich guy."

"The money would be nice though," Danny said wistfully. His parents made enough money to live on, but they still ranked within middle class. They also refused to hand him money for nothing, requiring him to do chores for an allowance and suggesting he get a job if he wished for more spending money.

"Money isn't everything, Danny." Sam flicked him on the forehead, and he flinched. "I plan on _doing_ something with my life. Something important. Which means not bowing down to my mom's wishes to become some silly housewife. Ugh," she groaned as something caught her attention.

Danny followed her gaze to a group of four women. Paulina stood out among them, wearing a delicate pink dress and her ebony hair draped over one bare shoulder with pink and white flowers decorating it. She still managed to take Danny's breath away, though a hard elbow to the ribs woke him out of his daze. He couldn't help it though. Sometimes when he looked at Paulina, he simply fell back to being fourteen and madly crushing upon the beautiful Hispanic woman.

Standing with Paulina, Star held a hand to her mouth, giggling over something said among their group. Her blonde hair was swept up in a twist and pinned in place with an orange flower. Valerie, on the other side, rolled green eyes with an appearance of boredom. Her soft powdery yellow dress looked stunning on her, and Danny thought _maybe_ he saw a hint of annoyance in Paulina's emerald eyes. Didn't like being outshined, did she? The other woman was one Danny only recognized in passing but couldn't put a name to her bronzy face.

"And I think it's time we head in this direction," Danny said, guiding Sam toward the opposite side of the room. "Look. Drinks. I'm thirsty."

"See?" Sam sighed with perhaps a touch of relief. "This is exactly why I needed you here with me. If I was alone, I'd be too tempted to start something with Paulina."

"Well, at least, it looks like they serve some decent snacks." Danny picked up a bite sized treat from one of the platters on the table by the drinks. He popped it in his mouth then caught the wicked smirk on his friend's face.

"That was snail," Sam said, and Danny spat out the treat without a second thought. It made a splat as it hit the floor, Sam laughing the whole time.

"Ha, ha," Danny grumbled, grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth clean. "I know I'm hilarious." _Ugh, rich people food_ , he groaned internally as he crouched down and cleaned up the mess he made on the floor. No reason to leave it and risk someone slipping on it. He could hear Jazz's chiding voice in his head, spurring him to think of the potential danger of leaving food on the floor, besides that it was kind of disgusting. When he stood up again, Danny blinked as a pasty skinned redheaded man darted between him and Sam and picked up one of the same treats Danny had just spat out.

"Crab puffs! Yes!" The man popped it into his mouth then seemed to take notice of the people on either side of him. He gave an awkward smile with a mouthful of crab puff then slowly inched away from them. Meanwhile, Danny glared at his friend.

"Sorry," Sam said, biting her lip to hold back a snicker. "I couldn't resist. Your face was priceless."

"Oh, I see." Danny nodded, his blue eyes rolling slightly. "You brought me here as the entertainment."

Sam opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off with an irritating,

"Sammikins!" Mrs. Manson approached them with the heels of her white shoes clacking on the polished flooring. She wore a false smile and pointedly ignored Danny as she placed herself between him and her daughter with her back to him. "Gregor just arrived," she announced in a singsong sort of way, voice filled with excitement. "Ah," she sighed, "if only you had worn that dress I picked out."

"It was ugly," Sam said flatly, narrowing her eyes unhappily.

"It was five hundred dollars and one of a kind," Mrs. Manson snapped. "No matter." She recovered, straightening out her dress. "Come. Come. He's been waiting to meet you for months."

"Mom, I'm not interested," Sam growled as her mother dragged her away to meet the mysterious Gregor.

Danny hesitated, knowing he should probably do something to help his friend. But Mrs. Manson already hated him, and Danny felt great certainty she would hurt him or worse for standing in her way. He could see from where Sam got her scary side. Mrs. Manson shooting a glare at him over her shoulder as she led her daughter away didn't encourage him to try rescuing Sam from meeting with some guy Danny doubted she would have even the tiniest bit of interest in. With a nervous gulp, he snapped his gaze away and feigned great interest in the crab puffs.

Snail. Danny shook his head as he picked one up to eat. But now without Sam, he basically had no one to talk to, and sweeping his gaze around the room, Danny felt even more out of place. After some time of standing there uselessly, he turned, deciding to seek out a trash can to throw away the napkin with the crab puff he spat out earlier, and bumped into a body he hadn't noticed was there. He winced at the gasp the woman released.

"Sorry," he said. Then Danny paled when she twisted around to pin him with a glare. Valerie's face scrunched up in anger as her drink soaked through the front of her dress.

"You," Valerie growled as she fisted a hold of the front of his shirt then jerked him forward a step. "You did that on purpose."

"No, no!" Danny argued, raising his hands before him. "It was an accident. I didn't see you!" He reached to grab some napkins to help dry off some of the moisture, but Valerie gave him a shove away from her hard enough to make him stumble and fall to the floor.

"You're lucky Dash and Kwan aren't here." Valerie pointed a finger at him, her green eyes cold, hard, and narrowed. "Now I have to go clean this up before the others see. I do _not_ need to be laughed at for the next month because of this." She kicked him in the shin with the pointy toe of her high heels then stomped off to take care of cleaning up her dress.

_Gotta remember to thank Sam for dragging me to this_. Danny sighed as he climbed to his feet. A trash can stood in one corner of the room, and Danny tossed the napkin into it. He glanced around the room, spotting Sam on the other side. Her mouth pursed tightly, and Danny could imagine she was resisting the urge to deck the man in front of her. The man had this wild white hair sticking straight up, and he wore shades like he was some sort of celebrity. Danny snorted to himself, wondering what kind of idiot wore sunglasses inside. Whatever the man, Gregor Danny guessed, was saying, Sam didn't look pleased in the slightest, but her mother stuck by her side, making it impossible for Sam to ditch Gregor.

Danny wandered around the room, awkwardly trying to avoid people. At one point, he almost ran into Paulina but caught himself, spinning around on his feet to walk back the way he came. Before he got too far away, though, he heard part of the conversation.

"It's bad enough _she_ has to come," Paulina said with a sneer in her voice, "but then she brings her loser friend too."

If he ever thought he had a chance with Paulina, that would have been a kick to the groin. Danny sighed, shaking his head. Since freshman year, he had tried to get in with the A List, wanting a chance at popularity, but every attempt had gone poorly. And usually ended with him being completely humiliated.

Danny paused when something caught his attention. As he passed by one of the tables set off to the sides of the room, he noticed a tablet sitting upon the white linen. The tablet, itself, wasn't anything unusual, but what he saw on the screen made him back up for a second look. The corner of his mouth twitched as he pulled out the chair to sit down, glad to get off his feet for a time. He stared at the tablet before a soft chuckle escaped him, and he fiddled with what was on the screen.

"Hey!"

Danny jumped, banging his knee on the table. "Ow," he groaned, rubbing at his sore knee as he turned to look up at the person who shouted at him. He blinked up into the bright blue eyes glaring down at him. The woman had to be at least a year, but no more than two, younger than he, but her black dress with the white sash around her narrow waist gave her a more mature appearance. Her raven hair was simply done, tied back in a low ponytail with her bangs swept to one side.

"What do you think you're doing?" She ripped the tablet away from him.

"Oh, I was just, um-" Danny fumbled for an answer. He knew he shouldn't be messing with something belonging to someone else, but he couldn't help himself when he saw what was on the tablet.

"I set it down for two seconds, and-" She blinked as she took in the screen. Then she plopped down in the seat next to him. "How did you do that? I've been staring at that problem for the last half hour trying to solve it."

Danny shrugged as he leaned on the table. "Guess it just comes naturally." Then his eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Wait. Have you been working on that the whole time you were here? Aren't you supposed to be paying attention to, uh, whatever this is?" He gestured toward the room and all the wealthy people gathered in it.

Blue eyes drifted briefly around the room before settling back on him. "What? You mean another pointless fundraiser promoting the whole 'going green' concept so the wealthy can feel good about themselves, like they're actually contributing to the solution of fixing the world's pollution problem?" She snorted. "Please. The money isn't going towards that. They just say that to look good then feed the money into other projects."

"You sound like my friend Sam." Danny laughed with a small shake of his head. "She's all about doing stuff to help the environment. This event must have her wanting to get up on a soapbox and start yelling at everyone about actually _doing_ something instead of throwing money at a giant corporation that isn't going to help the environment at all."

"Your friend sounds like my kind of person." She smiled, but it slowly faded back into a frown. "So you're good at this kind of stuff?" She turned the tablet around to him, and the screen still showed the problem he had solved.

"I've been known to dabble a little here and there." Danny shrugged, trying to go for cool and nonchalant with his response. Though if the woman wanted to be impressed by someone's knowledge, Danny's sister was the genius between them. He frowned slightly, feeling Jazz's shadow creeping over him again. He could admit it. He was jealous. Jazz had brains, and she was fairly popular. Meanwhile, Danny sat in the losers' corner of the school, and his grades weren't nearly as good as his sister's.

"Maybe," she said thoughtfully as she stared at the tablet, "you could give me some help. My dad expects me to attend these stupid functions _and_ maintain a 4.0 GPA." She rolled her eyes as she placed the tablet down on the table and flipped it off to conserve power. "But doing both is killer, and I'm barely keeping up with everything. But if you could, I don't know, tutor me, maybe I could get my grades up, and my dad would stop giving me the stink eye when he sees my grades."

"I don't know," Danny said hesitantly, a frown settling upon his face. "You could find someone a lot smarter to be your tutor."

She lifted her eyebrow in a look of "You have to be kidding me" before she shook her head. "If you can sit here for two seconds and solve a problem I spent half an hour on, you'll do fine."

Danny sighed at the hopeful look in her eyes. "All right. I guess we can give it a try."

"Great!" She rummaged through her black handbag to pull out her cell phone. "Just program in your number, and we can discuss payment."

"Payment?" Danny's eyes lit up as he took the phone. "You should have led with that." He quirked a smirk as he added his number to her contact list.

"Probably should have led with our names too." She stuck out her hand toward him. "Elle."

"Danny." He shook her hand then offered her phone back to her.


	4. Chapter 4

"We can finally get out of here," Sam said, catching Danny as he was tossing away another napkin from a snack he ate earlier. Danny had sat around talking with Elle for a while, having no one else to hang out with while Sam was busy, but Elle disappeared a few minutes ago, stating she had something to do. Sam took hold of Danny's arm, not giving him a chance to speak as she dragged him along to the exit of the grand room before her mother could hunt her down again. "If I have to stay here another second, I might actually explode."

"What?" Danny gasped in mock surprise. "You didn't enjoy talking to Gregor?"

Sam's elbow struck him hard in the ribs as they passed through the open doors. "Don't even get me started on him." She shuddered, face twisting up in disgust. "That had to be the _worst_ Hungarian accent I have ever heard. And who wears sunglasses inside? Unless of course he was trying to hide blood shot eyes or something." She muttered the last part as waves of irritation rolled off her.

Danny's mouth quirked somewhat in an amused grin, but he quickly tried to hide it. "I would have come to save you, but I kind of like my head attached to my body. I'm pretty sure if I had tried to step in, your mom would have ripped my head clean off my shoulders."

"I'd argue," Sam eyed him as her mouth thinned, "but you probably have a point there. She really doesn't like you." They exited the building, and Sam led the way back to her car. She glanced his way a few times as they neared the car before speaking up again. "So who was that girl you were talking to?"

Danny stumbled but luckily caught his balance before he could look any more the fool. "Uh, she said her name was Elle," he answered as he rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. "I, uh, somehow became her tutor."

"You?" Sam asked incredulously as her eyebrows shot upward.

"Hey!" Danny protested with annoyance flashing in his blue eyes. "I can be smart."

"I wasn't denying it." Sam unlocked the car doors for them. "I'm just surprised. Your sister, I can see her being a tutor. But you-" She laughed, looking away when Danny glared at her. "It's not about you not being smart. It's more, you know," she shrugged, "that you're a slacker. You're more interested in staying up all night playing video games."

"Yeah, but I also like having money," Danny pointed out, grinning as he climbed into the passenger's seat of the car. "We haven't worked out the rate yet, but we'll probably talk about that during the first tutoring session. She seems nice enough anyway. We got along pretty well just talking before she had to go."

"Yeah, I noticed." Sam rolled her violet eyes as she turned the key in the ignition. "The two of you looked pretty cozy sitting there. I guess it's good that at least one of us enjoyed ourselves."

Danny shrugged. "She seems like a good girl." Then he grinned and reached over to give Sam a little nudge. "I guess you didn't really need me around to keep you from tearing out Paulina's hair." Thinking about the A List, though, reminded Danny about the little mishap with Valerie. He cringed, thinking about the hell Valerie was bound to make his life at school.

Sam scowled, her hands tightening around the steering wheel. "Yeah, because being dragged around by my mom was a great alternative. I really wish she would wake up and realize I'm not interested in dating the guys she tries to throw me at."

Danny lost count of the number of times over the years Sam complained about her parents. Since not long after they started high school, Sam had something new to add to her long list of reasons her parents got on her nerves and would never understand her: her parents wanted her to marry a suitor from a wealthy family. Danny snorted to himself. Did they think this was back in the old days where arranged marriages were a common thing? He could understand Sam's frustration over that topic. He wouldn't want to be forced into a relationship either.

"I can't believe my mom is still holding these scam events." Sam banged a fist on the steering wheel, glowering at the road before her. "Promoting the whole 'go green' concept, that she doesn't even believe in by the way, when the money-"

"Is going to be put into other projects," Danny finished and received an angry scowl in response. "You've said things like that a million times over, Sam."

After huffing out a sigh, Sam tried to relax, but she clearly still had tension in her shoulders. "I just want to be able to do something to _really_ help the environment, but people like my parents and the people they invite to these things don't actually care. They just want a good public image."

Danny grinned, holding back a laugh, as they pulled up in front of his house. "You and Elle would get along great. She had the same thoughts about the event." He opened the door and grabbed his bag from where he had left it on the floor of the car. "I'll get the suit back to you tomorrow."

"Keep it," Sam said with a smirk. "It's tailored made for you anyway."

Of course it was. Danny wasn't sure if he should be creeped out by that fact or not. "I'll see you tomorrow." He closed the door once he climbed out of the car then waved to Sam. After she returned the wave, Sam drove off, heading toward her house. Danny slung his bag over his shoulder as he headed up to the front door. When he entered the house, the smell of dinner cooking hit him. He had eaten here and there on the snacks served at the fund raiser event, but they were hardly filling. After he dumped his bag on the couch in the front room, he headed into the kitchen.

"Dinner smells great, Mom." Danny reached to steal a taste of the mashed potatoes, but his mother slapped his hand away with a spatula.

"Go set the dinner table," his mother ordered with a stern frown. "Where have you been? And why are you dressed up so nicely? A date?" Her curious violet gaze followed him as he walked over to the cupboard to get down some plates.

"No," Danny answered, feeling a light heat rising to his cheeks. He always thought it was embarrassing whenever either of his parents asked if he was dating anyone. For a while during his freshmen year, his family was convinced he was dating Sam, and he was subjected to a lot of teasing comments and knowing looks before they realized he and Sam were simply friends. "It was just a benefit type thing, and Sam didn't want to go alone, so she dragged me along."

"Well, that was nice of you." His mother turned to him with her hands on her hips. She wore a white apron over her usual teal jumpsuit. "But what about your homework?"

"I'll get it done." Danny's head snapped up as he remembered something. "Oh yeah, I have something I need you to sign for tomorrow."

"What did you do?" His mother's mouth thinned unhappily.

"Nothing!" Danny finished setting the table. Then he went to grab his bag from the couch and dug through it to find the permission slip. "I just need you to sign this," he explained as he returned to the kitchen, walking over to where his mother was checking on the chicken cooking in the oven, "so I can go on the field trip with the rest of the class."

His mother stood up then took the slip of paper from him. She glanced it over, pursing her lips the whole time. "Hm, I suppose it would be all right." She snapped her gaze up to him just as Danny was about to cheer in celebration. "So long as you get all your homework done on time."

"That's exactly what Lancer said." Danny struggled not to groan after hearing the same repeated comment.

His mother found a pen and signed her name on the line for the parental or guardian signature. When she finished, she handed the permission slip back to him. "We just don't want you to slack off." She pinched his cheek hard. "Especially when I know you can be a bright boy when you apply yourself."

"Ugh, Mom!" Danny rubbed at his cheek, frowning at his mother.

"Go tell your sister that dinner's almost ready." His mother crossed the kitchen to the door leading down into the basement, and Danny knew she was going to tell his father dinner was just about ready, pulling him away from whatever his latest project was.

Danny left the kitchen and grabbed his bag. As he headed upstairs, he tucked the permission slip into his bag, making sure it was in spot where he wouldn't lose it. Then he charged up the stairs and down the hall toward his sister's bedroom. He barely made it halfway down the hall when he received a nasty surprise, making him halt mid step.

Dash exited Jazz's bedroom, and when he lifted his head, he spotted Danny. A cruel smirk crossed his face. "What are you doing here, loser?" The jock approached him, cracking the knuckles of one fist.

"I live here," Danny replied dryly. "What exactly were you doing in my sister's room?"

"Well," Dash smirked more, leaning one elbow against the wall as he examined the nails on one hand, "I know _you_ don't know a whole lot about the ladies, but they love me. Your sister can't keep her hands off me. It's a gift."

Danny tried not to vomit at the imagery _that_ put in his head. But he snorted instead. "Yeah right, Dash. My sister would never be interested in you. She doesn't go for the whole Neanderthal thing."

Dash grabbed hold of Danny's tie and yanked him forward, right up close to Dash's face. "What did you call me?" he demanded in a low, threatening tone, and his breath stank of those gross chalky breath mints. Danny wrinkled his nose and tried to breathe through his mouth to avoid the nauseous smell.

"Hey!" Jazz shouted, storming over to them. "I swear, Dash, if you want to graduate from high school, you will _stop_ bullying my brother." Her aqua colored eyes glared without wavering as she stood next to them with her arms folded over the loose long sleeved black top she wore. "Let him go."

Dash ground his teeth, his jaw tightening visibly, but after a moment, he released his hold on the tie. Danny backed up a step, happy for the clean air as he smoothed down the wrinkled tie.

"I'll meet you tomorrow for another study session," Jazz said as she thrust a bag into Dash's chest. "If I catch you harassing my brother again, this deal is off."

Dash grumbled under his breath as he threw the strap of his bag over one shoulder. When he caught Jazz glaring at him, he snapped his mouth shut and looked away. Minutes passed in silence, but he eventually said, "Fine. Your brother," he glared at Danny, "is safe."

"And my friends," Danny piped up, biting back the urge to grin like a madman.

"And his friends," Jazz agreed.

Dash growled deep in the back of his throat, clearly not pleased with the additional condition. "You should be satisfied that I'm agreeing to lay off your loser brother."

"Well," Jazz shrugged with airy indifference, "I guess if you don't want to be able to play in the next big game, that's fine too."

Dash's hand tightened around the strap of his bag until his knuckles turned white. "Fine," he ground out with some major effort. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jazz." His shoulder slammed into Danny as he passed by on his way down the hall toward the stairs.

Danny waited until Dash was well down the stairs before he spoke. "He's totally not going to keep to that promise."

Jazz sighed tiredly, following when Danny headed for his bedroom. "It's worth a try at least."

Danny tossed his bag toward his bed, missing it, and his bag thumped heavily onto the floor. He would worry about doing his homework after dinner, since he wouldn't be able to focus on any of his homework until after he got some real food in him. Then he shook his head with a light laugh as he turned back to his sister.

"I still don't understand how you're able to get Dash to listen to you." The only other person Danny could think of, who could get Dash to listen, was Kwan.

"Sometimes, there are better methods to solving a problem than using violence." Jazz smirked as they walked toward the stairs. Then she wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him close and forcing him to bend down slightly. She ruffled his raven locks with a laugh as Danny struggled to break free of her hold. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were both laughing and Dash had left the house.

"Maybe you can teach me the trick to making bullies back off," Danny said as they walked toward the kitchen, the smells of dinner still making his stomach cry in hunger.

"I don't think it would work for you, little brother." Jazz patted him on the shoulder before she left him and joined their mother at the counter, helping to serve up dinner onto the plates.

"All dressed up," his father said in surprise when he turned to Danny as he dried his hands off on a white towel. "Did you have a date?" He grinned, and Danny groaned inwardly at the teasing.

"It wasn't a date," Danny said, taking his spot at the kitchen table. "Sam made me wear this because the benefit was at this fancy place. And even with this," he gestured to the suit, "I felt completely under dressed because of all the rich people there."

"So it was a date with Sam?" His father smirked knowingly.

Danny groaned, dropping his head onto his folded arms. His sister and mother laughed as they joined them at the table, passing out plates of chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables. With a sigh, Danny sat up, deciding the hunger gnawing at his sides trumped being embarrassed by his family asking about his love life, which was currently at he didn't have one. Thankfully, the topic of conversation turned away from him as Jazz launched into talking about her day and how the student council meeting went.


	5. Chapter 5

"Why do you keep peeking around corners?" Tucker asked as they rounded a corner into the main hall. "Because if you're going for that sneaky, not going to be seen thing, it's totally not working for you."

Danny stood up straighter, shooting a glare at his friend. "I already have Dash gunning for my throat, and yesterday, I made an enemy of Valerie. I think staying under their radars until the end of the year is a wise idea."

Tucker laughed then shrank back as Danny's glare intensified. "What? You _know_ they have some sort of special Danny radar. No matter how hard you try to hide, they're going to find you."

Danny sighed, his shoulders slumping somewhat in defeat. "I really hate that about them." But it wouldn't stop him from trying. After his sister forced Dash into that promise of not harassing him and his friends, Danny would bet anything Dash would find a way to corner him and give him the beating of his lifetime. And Danny didn't look forward to it. He frowned as he glanced to his side. "Though maybe for your sakes, you and Sam should keep your distance at school. If Dash is looking for me, I don't want the two of you getting caught up in things."

"Pfft!" Tucker slapped an arm around Danny's shoulders. "We're best friends. We do everything together. If Dash messes with you, he's going to have to go through me."

"While you cower behind Sam?" Danny's mouth curled into a smirk. Then he laughed as Tucker gave him a shove, almost knocking him into a brunette freshman passing them. "Face it," Danny said after his laughter died a bit. "Out of the three of us, Sam is definitely the scariest."

Tucker frowned then sighed. "Yeah, okay. I'll give you that." Half a laugh managed to force itself out of him. "Remember how I puked in her lunch back in second grade? I was terrified she'd beat me up for that."

"Heh. Yeah, then we told her it was Ricky Marsh, and she went and kicked him off the monkey bars." They both laughed at the memory, Danny shaking his head. "I definitely wouldn't want to get on her bad side." But being on Dash and Valerie's bad sides was equally terrifying. He wasn't sure what Valerie might do after the little accident of spilling his drink on her dress, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.

"Fenton."

The two friends stopped, snapping their heads forward when they heard the woman's voice. Danny groaned internally as an angry Valerie stood before them. She folded her arms, her green eyes narrowing icily at him as if she were trying to stab icicles into him by the sheer force of her glare. Danny should know by now if he thought about the A List for too long, eventually one of them popped up to make his life miserable. What was the saying? Speak of the devil, and he shall come? Apparently, he merely had to think for the devil to find him.

"Hey, Val," Tucker said, putting on one of his charming smiles. At least, _he_ thought they were charming. Most of the women in school he flirted with didn't share the same opinion. "You're looking good today."

"Cram it, Foley," Valerie snapped, barely taking her gaze off Danny to shoot Tucker a glare.

"Taking notes from Dash?" Danny sighed as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other in an attempt to appear casual. He expected no good from this encounter. "Why is it so hard to call us by our first names? Does he think this is some military school or something?"

"Ugh, loser speak." Valerie made a face, rolling her eyes as she shuddered. "Look," she said firmly. "I need to have a word with you." She turned a pointed look onto Tucker. "Alone."

Taking the hint, Tucker patted Danny on the shoulder. "Well, we had a breakthrough for something to add to the robot last night. I think I'll just go see Mr. Technus and check in on how our idea is working." He gave a quick wave before he turned down the hall to head toward the room in which the robotics club met.

Valerie eyed the passing students warily as they took notice of her, an A List, standing around with him, a loser. "Let's go somewhere a little more private." She turned, leading the way.

_Right_ , Danny thought as he followed after Valerie, _because this isn't going to start people talking_. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat, trying to ignore all the looks they were receiving. "You know if you wanted to humiliate me, you could have just done it back in the main hall." Valerie ignored the comment as she pushed him through a side exit of the high school. Danny stumbled a step, putting a few feet of distance between them as they stood alone outside. "I'd really like to grab some lunch before next period, you know."

"Do you have any idea the kind of scrutiny I go through being in the A List?" Valerie demanded, stabbing a finger into Danny's chest. Hard. He winced as her nail dug into him.

For a moment, Danny could only stare at her like her hair glowed bright green. Then he laughed. "You're asking _me_ that? After all the times I've been humiliated trying to make friends with you A List members, you're going to ask me that?"

Valerie made a face, mock laughing. "Listen, Fenton." She grabbed hold of his shirt and yanked him a step closer to her. "Thanks to your little stunt, I missed out on a good portion of that benefit last night. Which did _not_ put in good standing with the rest of the A List who were attending it. If you were trying to embarrass me and make the rest of the A List reconsider my membership, congrats on very nearly succeeding."

"I apologized for spilling my drink on you!" Anger worked its way through Danny. "It was an accident! I didn't even know you were behind me. If I wanted to pour my drink on anyone there, it would probably be Paulina." He paused to think about it for a moment. "Wait. No, I retract that. If I could do it and get away with it, I would have dumped my drink on Sam's mom."

Rage was burning in Valerie's eyes, her hand twisting the front of his shirt so it pulled tightly on him. "Yeah, okay. I'll give you that. Sam's mom's dress was an eyesore. I'm sure everyone would have been thanking you for ruining it." Her mouth pressed thin, and Danny feared she was about to start ranting at him. "Actually," Valerie's expression shifted quickly from anger to cunning deviousness, "maybe you can be of use to me."

"Uh," Danny tried to discreetly pry his shirt free from her hand and step away, "not sure what you mean by that, but I'm gonna go with no." Valerie was a lot stronger than she looked and refused to release her hold on Danny.

"Let's make a deal. You, with all your klutzy loserness, humiliate some of the other A List girls, and I won't make your life miserable."

Danny's eyebrows lifted up with a look to say he thought she was crazy. "Won't make my life miserable? If I start going around purposely trying to embarrass the rest of the A List, Dash is going to pound me into the ground." And he knew Jazz wouldn't be able to say anything to make the jock stop this time.

"Paulina's been running this school like she's a queen since freshmen year, and Star is basically her right hand lady. Me," Valerie scowled, "I'm closer toward the bottom of the A List pyramid. A few more embarrassing incidents or something like what happened last night, and I can kiss being in the A List goodbye. But if you 'accidentally' spill your lunch or something on one of the others, I might be able to move up a little."

Danny sighed, exhaustion dragging down on him as he listened to her. Back in freshman year, he would have done anything to get in with the A List. Now he was more focused on keeping up with his homework and hanging out with his friends. After they graduated from Casper High, being popular wasn't going to matter. They would head off to college then they would have to hunt for jobs. Life had more important things than high school drama and the struggle to be popular.

"Don't you want some real friends?" Danny blurted out the question before he even thought about it. "I mean," he added quickly when he saw the anger spilling back into Valerie's green eyes, "it just doesn't sounded like anyone in the A List is really friends with anyone else if you're all looking for ways to cut each other down to gain more popularity for yourself."

"I have real friends," Valerie argued with a scowl. "Kwan and I have been friends practically since we were in diapers. Even," the words seemed to catch in her throat, and she had difficulty continuing, "if I weren't in the A List anymore, I know he would still be friends with me." Valerie continued when she saw Danny open his mouth to speak. "Do this for me and I won't make you pay my dry cleaning bill for the dress." She reached into her bag, and after pulling something out, she shoved into Danny's chest. Then with a flick of her long ebony hair, she entered the school again.

Danny stood stunned for a moment then scrambled to catch the fluttering slip of paper falling toward the ground. His eyes widened as he read over the bill Valerie left for him. "What?" he shouted in shock and outrage. "She can't expect me to pay this!" He didn't make a whole lot of money doing chores around the house for his parents, and he certainly couldn't make the few hundred of dollars the bill wanted. It was like being wedged between two bad options, and he doubted paying the bill would be the end of things if he didn't do what Valerie wanted of him.

Crumpling up the bill, Danny shoved it into his bag then yanked open the door to enter the school building again. He barely stepped a foot into the school when someone rammed into him with their bony shoulder as they pushed past him. Flatting himself against the door, Danny watched with a frown as the man stomped off away from the school building. He vaguely recognized the man with his dark uneven Mohawk, piercings, and tattoos. The Goth and punk styled clothes made him stand out, especially as a target of harassment from the A List.

"What are you doing here, Danny?"

He snapped his head around and blinked as his sister slowed from a jog as she neared him. "Just-" Danny's brow knitted together. "Were you just chasing him?" He pointed in the direction in which the other man had gone. He never had any worries about something happening between his sister and Dash whenever he saw the jock coming out of Jazz's room. His sister had expressed many a time she would never be interested in a bully. Danny put on his brotherly concerned face with a slight hint of disapproval.

"He didn't turn in his homework last period," Jazz explained with a shrug, but her expression was worried, and Danny thought it might have something to do with more than just homework. "I'll have to talk to him at our next tutor session." Reluctantly, she turned back around and walked down the hall. The dismissive tone and action suggested she wouldn't be answering any questions no matter how much her brother pestered her.

Danny let the door slam shut behind him as he walked, in long strides, down the hall to catch up with his sister. "No boring student council meeting tonight?"

"You know, Danny," Jazz turned her aqua colored eyes onto him, "it wouldn't hurt you to be a bit more active in school clubs. It'll look good to colleges when it comes to applying to them."

"Oh, is that why you're involved in virtually every club available in the school? And do about eighty hours of tutoring and volunteer work?" Danny frowned at his sister, not because he hated how bad she made him look with all her selfless good deeds but out of concern for her. "How do you even get enough sleep to function? You barely have any downtime to just relax."

"I think you do enough relaxing for the both of us, Mr. Up All Night Playing Video Games." Jazz stared pointedly at him, her mouth pressed thin in an expression her brother had learned to read as she was holding back lecturing him.

"You should try it some time." Danny grinned at his sister. "It's a lot of fun."

"I'll worry about _fun_ after graduating college and getting a good job." Jazz stopped when they reached the main hall and turned to face her brother. "Having fun is great, Danny. But you need to be serious about your education too. If you're not, how do you expect to find a good job? Do you _want_ to be flipping burgers at Nasty Burger for the rest of your life? Because I don't think you'll be having a lot of fun then."

Danny somehow managed to hold back a groan. "Okay, okay," he muttered, scratching at the back of his head as he looked away from his sister. "I get it. You can stop hounding me about it."

Jazz rested a hand on his shoulder. "I'm just trying to look out for my baby brother." She offered a small, fond smile.

"Ugh," Danny groaned, leaning his head back as if complaining to the ceiling. "Do you have to call me that at school?"

"Well, I can't really call you little anymore," Jazz said teasingly with a nudge to his arm. "Now that you're like three inches taller than I am."

Danny had hoped when he surpassed his sister in height that it was a sign he inherited their father's grand stature. But he was only about average and still shorter than the likes of most jocks. He pushed those thoughts from his mind as he turned a crooked smirk onto his sister.

"Does that mean I can call you my _little_ sister?" He dropped a hand atop her auburn head then drew it straight back at him like he was measuring the height difference between them.

"No," Jazz answered, smacking him in the chest lightly with one of her text books, physics by the looks of it, "you cannot." Despite the protest, she wore a grin, which made Danny laugh in return. They parted ways there, Jazz heading off to the library, most likely, to do some studying and Danny walking toward the cafeteria to finally get his lunch.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny somehow managed to slip onto the bus and sneak into the back before Dash could catch sight of him. He hunkered down by the window, trying to stay below the backseat level of the row in front of him in case the jock tried to scan the bus for him. In retrospect, complying with what Valerie asked of him probably wasn't his wisest move.

After lunch yesterday, Danny kept a water bottle on him, still mostly filled, and waited for a good opportunity. That being when Dash wasn't anywhere near Paulina or Star. Valerie's idea of humiliating the top women in the A List was risky enough. Doing anything in the presence of Dash was simply suicidal. But finally between sixth and seventh period, Danny spotted Paulina alone at her locker getting some books. It was a terrible idea. He knew it was, but he didn't like the idea of Valerie extorting money out of him simply because he ruined her dress. By accident!

Apologies never got him anywhere with the A List though. Except Kwan. Usually Kwan would just let him go when his clumsiness caused him to bump into the jock. Sometimes, Danny wondered how Kwan was even friends with Dash when their personalities were completely opposite. Kwan was kind and quiet while Dash was loud and aggressive.

Danny pushed the thought away as he walked toward Paulina. The water bottle was already opened, and his pounding heart thundered in his ears. He wasn't exactly the most graceful person, often tripping over his own feet, but he usually didn't go around purposely trying to run into someone. As he neared, he gulped nervously, and it felt like his throat had turned into sandpaper, each breath of air scratching along his throat. He glanced around the hall, making sure Dash hadn't appeared out of nowhere to catch him. The jock was absent, but Danny did catch Valerie across the hall watching him to see what he would do. Great. The idea of backing out left his mind as a million pounds of pressure urged him forward.

His feet tangled under him, and he stumbled forward, thrusting out the water bottle as his hand squeezed around it. The water shot out of it while Danny struggled to keep from crashing right into the ground. He lifted his head when he heard the outraged gasps to see Paulina tugging at her pink shirt, soaked through from the water. The woman behind her suffered some of the splash too, and guilt twisted inside him to see an innocent bystander caught in the mix.

Danny apologized profusely for the accident, but it didn't stop Paulina from growing angry with him, especially after the shock wore off the surrounding students and they burst into laughter at Paulina's misfortune. He made his escape before Paulina decided to bring out her claws for dumping water all over her.

Eyeing a few rows ahead of him on the bus where he could see the back of Dash's dumb blond head, Danny doubted there was any chance the jock hadn't heard about the incident from yesterday, and he didn't look forward to how Dash would react when the jock finally spotted him.

When the bus stopped, it jerked him out of his memories from yesterday. Danny glanced out the window to see the large company building towering over them. His mouth hung open a little as he gaped up at it. Of course, he had seen the building in the past. It stood in the downtown area of Amity Park, and he had past it with his family when they came downtown for shopping and sometimes to get dinner, usually for special occasions, like the time Jazz won an award at school. It was an impressive building, all sleek silver siding and thousands of windows. Danny had heard a lot about the various projects they worked on in Axion Labs, lots of new inventions in development, advancements in medicine, and many other projects that could change the world.

"Now," their teacher said, standing up at the front of the bus to call their attention to him, "I expect you all to be on your best behavior during this tour. And stick together. We've been offered this very generous opportunity to see just what Axion Labs has been working on recently. At noon, we'll stop for lunch in the cafeteria."

"We've been on field trips before," someone complained from the middle of the bus, and Danny was surprised to note it wasn't Dash.

Their teacher turned his worst stink eye upon the student who spoke up, a promise of punishment later. "Right," he grumbled, and Danny wouldn't be surprised if the man was wondering why he got stuck babysitting this group of teenagers on a field trip where half of them were likely to get in trouble. "Then let's go." He moved toward the open door of the bus. "No shouting or rough housing. Actually," he paused, blocking the way off the bus as the students got up to follow him, "do nothing but be quiet and listen to the tour guide." He glared then turned to head for the front doors of the building.

Danny grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder as he stood to follow the rest of the students. He kept toward the back, trailing behind the group as they passed through the front entrance and stepped into the lobby of the building. His gaze didn't stray too far from Dash's location, but he managed to take in his surroundings. The lobby didn't have much to see to be excited about, just stark white walls and flooring and a front desk where a dark haired woman sat typing away at a computer. Or maybe she was playing a game to pass the time. Danny knew he would be doing that if he was stuck at a boring job.

Their tour guide was a short woman with her dark hair pulled out of her equally dark face. She smiled warmly at them as she greeted the group, her brown eyes twinkling. She led them up the escalator and off to one of the laboratories, describing the projects they were working on there. She had to warn them not to touch anything in the laboratory while other employees in white lab coats busily worked on things, examining things with microscopes and mixing different chemicals together. Some of the scientists actually stopped their work to talk to their group, quizzing them with various questions related to their work, which most of the students couldn't answer.

The next laboratory they were led to had various robotics in development. One the employees even let them mess with the controls on a robotic arm with a hand that looked remarkably close to human and could pick up items, like cups and pens. But they weren't allowed to touch anything else. Danny's attention was distracted briefly from the lecture about developing new prosthetics that would look and act just like real limbs for people when he saw a man step out from one of the doors in the laboratory. The man walked away with a folder tucked under one arm, exiting the laboratory through a different door. Danny wouldn't have even noticed the man, except he recognized the wild locks of white hair, like the man shoved his finger into a light socket and electrocuted himself.

What was their physics teacher doing here? Mr. Technus also oversaw the robotics club. Glancing around the laboratory and all the robotics being worked on, Danny guessed that should have clued him in on the why. But his mind still boggled over the fact that Mr. Technus was here at Axion Labs.

They were shown to some of the other laboratories after that, and Danny continued hanging at the back, trying not to draw any attention to himself. Up ahead, he spotted Dash messing around with one of the other students. The jock pushed the shorter, scrawnier man with his elbow, grinning cruelly as the other student almost fell to the ground. His thick glasses that made his gray eyes look huge and bug like slipped down to the point of his nose. Danny frowned as he watched the interaction, which their teacher seemed not to notice.

"And if you follow me, we'll go to the cafeteria," the tour guide said, leading them through another laboratory currently empty of employees, but the sight of the laboratory suggested it was mostly used for experimental projects. Mechanical hands hung from the ceiling, most likely used for moving questionable items that could prove dangerous to be handled by the employees. "I'm sure you're all getting hungry by now." She offered them a teasing smile. "And don't worry. Everything is free for you, so you can have whatever you like." A few students cheered, eager to grab some lunch.

"Looks like you don't need that lunch money after all," Dash said, catching the back collar of the shorter man's shirt, before they could leave the laboratory with the rest of the group. He twisted the other student around and held him pinned to the wall next to the exit. "So fork it over, Poindexter." Dash shoved a hand into Poindexter's face, waiting to be handed whatever money the man had on him.

Danny ground his teeth at the all too familiar scenario. Dash had bullied enough lunch money out of him in the past that Danny was reluctant to even bring his wallet to school. "Cut it out, Dash," he ordered in a surprisingly strong voice. He knew it was a bad choice when he saw the jock release his hold on Poindexter, and Danny gulped as Dash glared coldly at him. Poindexter, however, saw this moment as a golden opportunity, and one he decided to take when he slipped away from Dash and darted out of the laboratory before the jock could notice. Danny somehow managed to continue glaring at him as Dash stomped closer to him.

"Been hiding like a little coward loser, huh?" Dash gave him a hard shove, and Danny stumbled back a few steps. "Then you try to act like a cool tough guy by standing up for that nerd?" He threw a punch.

On instinct, Danny raised an arm to defend himself. The fist slammed into his forearm, and he knew he would have a bruise there for days. He hit the console to his right, the hard edge digging into his side. "Why don't you leave Poindexter alone?" He tentatively lowered his arm enough to look over it at the jock. "He already gets harassed enough by the rest of your meathead teammates. He's never even done anything to any of you." He dodged quickly to the side when he saw another punch aimed at him. Dash's fist slammed into the console. Danny vaguely noted some lights flickering on and a noise faint in the background.

"You, on the other hand," Dash said, stalking after Danny, who tried to keep the distance between them, "made a big mistake yesterday." He shook out his hand a bit after having punched the console, and there was a small scrape on his knuckle.

"We should, uh," Danny glanced around the empty laboratory, "probably catch up with the group. You know, before Mr. Green notices we're missing."

"Listen, Fenton. You mess with Paulina like that again, and I'll make you regret it."

A cold sweat prickled at the back of Danny's neck. He had no doubts about the beating Dash would give him next time Danny tried to do something to humiliate Paulina under Valerie's orders. Why did he have to get caught up in some sort of A List hierarchy struggle?

"That was an accident," Danny explained, licking dry lips nervously. "I tripped. I apologized for it too."

"Right." Dash nodded with a roll of his blue eyes. "You tripped." Obviously, he didn't believe the lie, but Dash had never believed any of his excuses and apologies in the past either.

Danny's hands curled at his sides, nails biting into his palms as anger boiled inside him. "You know what, _Dwayne_ ," a smirk almost curled upon his face when Dash's nose flared in rage upon having his real name called out, "it's not all about you A Listers. I don't sit around everyday thinking, 'Hm, how do I want to humiliate the A List today?' You're not the center-" The words died in his throat, and the color drained from his face as he noticed something moving behind Dash.

"What are you-"

But Danny grabbed hold of Dash's arm then tugged him forward a step before placing a hand on the jock's broad chest and shoving him away before the question could be finished. Dash stumbled backward toward the exit of the laboratory but managed to keep his balance enough to prevent him from falling on his butt. His wide eyed expression of shock would be comical if the three prong mechanical arm didn't grab hold of Danny in the next second. He winced as it clamped around his shoulder, two pointy metal fingers on top of his shoulder while the third dug into his armpit. The arm jerked, and Danny released a pathetic yelp as the pain intensified, the prongs digging tighter into his shoulder. His feet dangled uselessly a few inches off the ground, and Danny grabbed at the arm with his free hand to keep his trapped arm from being ripped from its socket.

"Das-" Danny gasped when the arm thrust him forward, slamming him back into the wall on the opposite side. A crash of glass could barely be heard over the thunder of blood pounding in his ears. The arm released him, allowing him to drop and slide off a table to his knees on the floor before the arm could ram forward again. It punched at the wall where his chest would be if he hadn't moved. It struck with a clang that resonated through the room.

"What is going on in here?"

Danny cringed, recognizing the voice and the disapproving anger in it. He lifted his head, peeking up through raven bangs to see their teacher had come back into the laboratory. Along with a few of the scientists who rushed over to the console to stop the mechanical arm from going crazy. Danny shuddered as something warm and wet oozed down the back of his neck. Shakily, he rose to his feet, his back hurting but his right shoulder throbbing like Dash had pounded on it for ten weeks straight.

"He," Dash said, already lifting his arm to point at Danny.

"Sorry," Danny said as he rubbed at his back. "I couldn't resist taking a little look at things. I guess I hit a wrong button though." He almost laughed at the way Dash's face morphed into shock, dark blue eyes widening and mouth hanging slightly open.

"The two of you," Mr. Green pointed at Danny and Dash. "I warned you not to embarrass us on this trip. Both of you are to go wait in the bus until we're ready to leave. Now I have to go make apologies for your behavior and damaging their equipment."

"But Dash didn't even do anything!" Danny protested, though he would bet if Dash hadn't punched the console, nothing would have happened. He swallowed at the glare Mr. Green sent him. It was the glare saying one more word out of his mouth would earn him a month's worth of detention. He didn't need the lecture from Jazz or his parents if that happened.

"Both of you, to the bus now!" Mr. Green pulled out a pad of paper from the pocket of his jacket and scribbled down a quick note. "Give this to the driver." He ripped the top slip from the pad and handed it to Dash. "Can you manage that? Or do I need them to get a security guard to escort you out?"

"We can manage, Sir!" Dash said at once, and Danny thought the jock was going to salute their teacher like he was a drill sergeant. Danny froze when Dash walked toward him, but the jock merely grabbed his arm then pulled him along out the exit of the laboratory.

"Didn't we have a sample left out here?" one of the scientists asked right as they passed through the doors.

They walked to the escalator leading down to the lobby in a tense silence, which made Danny nervous. He waited for Dash to lash out at him. Maybe the jock would shove him down the escalator or something. He winced at prickle of pain stinging every once and a while on the back of his neck.

"What's up with you?" Dash asked, his brow furrowing with anger, but his eyes said something different.

"Just my neck," Danny mumbled as they stepped onto the top of the escalator. "And look," he added firmly, glaring at Dash. "I didn't mean for you to get into trouble too. I thought Mr. Green would let you go scot free since there was no evidence tying you to having done anything wrong."

Dash merely shook his head as they continued down the escalator. When they reached the lobby, they headed straight for the front doors of the building. Depression settled over him, only mildly numbing the throbbing and stinging. Danny had looked forward to this field trip, and now the whole thing was ruined. He would miss out on seeing everything else they were working on at Axion Labs. He could kick Dash! If the jock wouldn't beat the snot out of him in return.


	7. Chapter 7

The bus driver was a small, wrinkly old man, who Danny was surprised could even reach the pedals with his short, knobby kneed legs. His leather red in the face skin was worn with laugh lines around the mouth and crinkles in the corners of his eyes. When they arrived and climbed through the door he opened, the driver had a half wrapped sandwich in one hand and a Styrofoam coffee cup sitting on the dashboard.

"Ha!" he released a bark of amusement. "Not even noon yet." He grinned, showing off yellow stained teeth as Dash shoved the teacher's note at the man. "Ol' Greenie owes me fifty bucks." He gave the note a cursory glance over before tossing it aside. "He had a little more faith in his students. But I told him, I told Ol' Greenie, you young rascals would stir up trouble before half the day was done."

Dash's hand was curled tightly at his side, and Danny wouldn't be surprised if the jock wanted to punch the driver. But Dash held back, not needing further punishment and potentially being benched from the football team. Danny, meanwhile, slipped past the jock and headed for the back of the bus where he could at least pretend not to hear the driver's commentary about the "punk youth" of the country.

Danny collapsed onto the seat in the very back of the bus, releasing a heavy sigh as he stared wistfully up at the building. He didn't regret standing up against Dash in that moment, not really, because he knew what it was like to be bullied. Sidney Poindexter was widely known at the school as a nerdy little genius and subjected to more bullying than even Danny. Feeling sorry for Poindexter, Danny had wanted to do something to save him from one more beating.

"Hey."

Danny jumped then hissed at the aggravated pain in his neck and shoulder. Tearing his gaze away from the window, he glanced up toward the front of the bus where the driver happily tore into his sandwich, giving no mind to the "troublemakers" in his care. He slowly dragged his gaze up to Dash, his eyes narrowing a touch to get the point across that he wasn't in the mood to be pushed around by the jock.

"What do you want?" he demanded as his muscles tensed, which did little to help the soreness in his shoulder.

"Let me take a look at that." Dash nodded toward Danny's neck as he slid onto the seat next to him.

Danny shifted uncomfortably, trying to recall the last time he was this close to the jock without hearing insults slung his way, getting beaten up, or having his life threatened. His gaze flicked over the man next to him, but Dash so far hadn't done anything to indicate he planned on doing anything. Somewhat reluctantly, he turned his back toward Dash, drawing one leg up onto the seat. It was probably a bad idea, showing his back to the jock, but he didn't really feel like putting up a fight at the moment. He let his bag drop to the floor as he bowed his head, showing off more of his neck to the jock.

His breath hitched up slightly when he felt the tug on the back of his coat and shirt. Danny picked at a loose thread on his jeans, finding the whole situation to be uncomfortable. Then he gasped at a sharp sting to the back of his neck.

"Sorry," Dash mumbled. "You had a bit of glass in this cut." A plinking sounded as the glass piece hit the floor of the bus. "By the way, ew. There's pus, and it looks all gross."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Gee, I'm sorry," he muttered sarcastically.

"I think I have something for that." Dash unzipped his bag and rifled inside it.

"Um," Danny flicked his gaze around as his head remained bowed, "not that I don't appreciate it or anything. But why are you doing this?" He swallowed with a lurch in his stomach. He didn't want to give Dash reason the beat the crap out of him in the back of the bus with only the wrinkly old driver to save him. But Dash wanting to help him? Danny couldn't fathom the answer to that or even connect it as reality.

"You're either stupidly brave," Dash said as he rubbed something cool over the cut on Danny's neck, earning another gasp, "or bravely stupid. I'm not sure which. But if you hadn't pushed me out of the way, that thing would have grabbed hold of me instead."

"Can't have that," Danny mumbled as his mouth drew into a thin line. "Anyway, you have that game next week. Our team would never survive if you had to sit out because of an injury."

Dash's finger paused over the base of Danny's neck. "Heh. Didn't know you even cared." The hand moved away, much to Danny's relief.

"How else are we going to maintain our title of reigning state champion?" Danny rolled his eyes. He wasn't a huge football fan, the way his father was, but he did enjoy attending the high school games with his friends and cheering on their team. Not that the other players weren't good, but without Dash as the quarterback and captain, they would be slaughtered.

Dash snorted, pressing a bandage over the cut on Danny's neck. "If we had to rely on Williams, we'd be screwed. The guy can talk a big game, but he sucks at being quarterback. He thinks it's easy, but it's not. You gotta really take in the whole field and where everyone is. Even if you have a play set up, things don't always go as plan. You gotta know when to make a different play in an instant. Williams doesn't have the mind for that."

Danny reached back, his fingers brushing over the bandage on the back of his neck as he twisted on the seat to sit straight again. "Ragging on your teammate in front of a loser?" He lifted an eyebrow at the jock, who was stuffing first aid items back into his bag. "Isn't that against some sort of A List code?"

After zipping up his bag and dropping it to the floor, Dash sat back and folded his arms. "Only if you go and tell people." He shot a meaningful glare at Danny and cracked the knuckles of one fist to emphasize his threat.

"Wasn't planning on it." Danny managed a weak laugh, wishing he had more room to get away from the jock. But as it was, his shoulder already pressed against the side of the bus. "Anyway, who would believe big bad Dash Baxter patched up little loser me?" He frowned, absently touching the bandage again. "Still kind of weird, by the way. And this," he gestured between them, "too." He raised an eyebrow like he was asking if Dash had hit his head or something during the chaos in the laboratory.

Dash's broad shoulders hunched up. "You put yourself at risk for me. Kind of deserved some points there." He snapped a finger in Danny's face. "But don't expect me to be nice to you after this. You're still a loser."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Loser for life. I should just get that tattooed across my forehead."

"I know a guy," Dash offered, settling back comfortably against the seat. Danny couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Then Dash's neutral expression broke, a smirk cracking across his face, and for some reason, it made Danny relax.

Danny leaned back, wincing slightly when his shoulder throbbed. "So how many times do I have to save your life before I can be bumped up from loser status?"

Dash snorted. "Ha! You got lucky this time."

Danny held back commenting about how he wouldn't have had to save Dash if the jock hadn't tried to attack him. An awkward silence fell over them, and Danny searched for something to say. As weird as having a civil conversation with Dash was, the silence was uncomfortable. He felt a need to fill the quiet with something, but they didn't exactly have anything in common. His gaze swept around the nearly empty bus before it landed on their bags sitting on the floor.

"Do you always walk around with a first aid kit in your bag?" Danny lifted a curious eyebrow at the jock.

Dash turned his head, an eyebrow arching slightly. "Maybe a nerd like you thinks it's weird." He snorted at Danny, who couldn't help feeling insulted. "But Kwan decided, since we're always rough housing and tending to injure ourselves, it would be smart if we kept some supplies on hand. Just the basics." He shrugged to say it was nothing big. "Just things like bandages and disinfectant." He released a bark of a laugh. "I still have this huge scar on my shin," he pointed to his left leg, "from when I fell off riding on the back of his bike when we were twelve."

Danny breathed out a laugh, shaking his head. "Gee, I'm glad Nurse Dash was on the job."

Dash gave him a shove, knocking him against the wall of the bus. He frowned when Danny sucked in a sharp breath at the irritation to his shoulder. "How's the, uh, you know?" The jock gestured awkwardly to his shoulder to indicate his meaning.

Danny grimaced and tried not to move his shoulder at all. "I want to say you've done worse. But it felt like that thing was going to rip my arm off. I won't be surprised if the bruises last for months." He wondered how long it would be before he could use his arm normally again without having shooting, throbbing pain through his shoulder.

"I could bind it up, but," Dash sent a glance toward the front of the bus where the driver was chugging down his coffee, "I don't think he'll let me off the bus to go grab some ice."

Danny shrugged his good shoulder and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. We've only got a few hours until we go home. I think I can somehow manage to survive until then. As difficult as it might be." He feigned deathly agony. After a beat of silence passed between them, Danny shifted awkwardly as he glanced at Dash. "So, uh, we seem to be getting along pretty well right now, and I don't want to ruin that or anything because I rather like not getting beat up, but I have to wonder. Why exactly do you always have to beat me up? I mean, we're talking pretty well right now, so I don't get why you're always so angry with me when most of the time, I haven't really done anything to you."

"You're a loser," Dash stated flatly like that was the only answer needed. His mouth pressed thin, and something in his dark blue eyes told Danny the jock's mind was on something else. "I'm just being nice to you right now because of what you did. Don't think it's gonna last long though. As soon as the rest of the class returns-"

"Yeah, yeah." Danny held up his good hand. "You'll go right back to treating me like a loser. Got it."

"Good." Dash gave a curt nod.

The familiar ringtone of his phone jingling through the bus interrupted the silence that had fallen. Danny shifted with a cringe and dug into his pocket to retrieve his phone. When he checked the caller, he didn't recognize the number on the screen. He accepted the call and brought the phone to his ear while Dash seemed content to ignore him.

"Hello?" Danny responded.

"Ah! I was afraid you would be in class still or something," the woman said, and Danny blinked in surprise upon recognizing the voice. "I don't know what your schedule is like."

"Oh, hey!" Danny grinned as he relaxed back against the seat. He hadn't heard from Elle since the whole benefit thing, so he thought maybe she wasn't serious about having him tutor her. "It's cool. I'm, uh, at lunch right now."

"Oh, good!" Elle breathed out a sigh, and it sounded like she was smiling. "I didn't want to call and interrupt class and get you into trouble or something."

"No need to worry about that." Danny winced since he was already in trouble, but he decided not to tell Elle about that. "So, uh, what did you need?"

"Right. I'll keep this short. It's about the whole tutor thing." Elle's answer came as no surprise to Danny, who pretty much guessed that as the reason for the call already. "My weekend is basically a blank slate at the moment. So I thought maybe you could come over sometime, and we can get started. I'll send you my address, and you can come over whenever's convenient."

"Uh, sure," Danny said, shrugging his good shoulder. "You sure I shouldn't call first. I wouldn't want to show up unannounced and have it be a bad time."

"Don't worry about it." Elle didn't seem bothered at all about people randomly showing up at her house. "I'll just be hanging out around the house. Bored. So it's fine whenever."

"Well, if you're sure."

"Great! Sending the address now. I'll see you later!"

"See you," Danny laughed a little awkwardly, "this weekend." He ended the call and found the address on his phone. With a shake of his head, he stuffed the phone back into his pocket.

"Making plans with your girlfriend?" Dash asked, reminding Danny that the jock was there.

"I don't have a girlfriend." Danny sighed tiredly. "Sam is just a friend."

Dash rolled his eyes then smirked. "Boyfriend then?"

Danny took a deep breath, forcing calm to pass through him before he dared to respond. "Dash, I know Tucker and I say we share everything. But we're not interested in each other like that."

"Well, the only other person I can think of who would call a loser like you is Jazz." Dash's nose wrinkled up, his eyes squinting a touch. "And I _really_ hope you weren't making plans with her."

"Uh, ew!" Danny made a sickened face at the jock, and his stomach felt like it was trying to kick up his breakfast at _that_ idea. "Don't be gross, Dash. It was just this girl I'm supposed to tutor." Though he was fairly certain after the first session, Elle would realize he wasn't the best person for the job and kick him out of her house.

"You picked up a girl?" Dash raised a skeptical eyebrow, clearly not believing Danny was capable of it.

"I didn't pick her up. It's not a date. It's a tutoring session." Danny pointedly turned his gaze away to stare out the window and back at the building of Axion Labs. He didn't even get to see the space projects they were working on!

Thankfully, Dash didn't push the subject, and they fell into a comfortable silence. The rest of the wait was fairly boring, with the driver grumbling about one thing or another, though Danny wasn't paying much attention to him. In a few hours, their class exited the building, and Dash vanished from beside Danny before he even realized it. The jock took up his place several rows ahead of Danny, and it was like they hadn't had any interaction at all during their punishment in the bus. Danny could almost believe the whole thing was all in his head, except the bandage on the back of his neck proved it had happened. Noise filled the bus as chattering students filed onto it and found spots to sit. After a few minutes of loud chaos, everyone was sitting down, and the driver pulled the bus away from the curb.


	8. Chapter 8

It was a miracle, a divine gift, the heavens were shining down upon him, and for once the universe was turning a blind eye instead of playing a huge cosmic joke upon him. In other words, Mr. Green, for some weird possibly body snatcher kind of reason, had decided not to phone his parents after the field trip to Axion Labs and inform them of their son's misbehavior, and destruction of property, while on said field trip. Danny arrived home with Jazz as anxiety had his palms sweating and his throat feeling too tight. But when he walked into the house, he didn't find his parents waiting with arms folded, feet tapping impatiently, and daggers glaring at him with disappointment in their eyes. It was almost as if the incident at Axion Labs hadn't happened, and he was free to go about his Friday night doing the usual thing like every other Friday night.

"We should be home by ten," his mother said as she and his father headed for the front door.

"Uh huh," Danny responded distractedly, his eyes glued to the television as he hit buttons on the game controller, moving his character around the screen and trying not to have it die brutally.

"And don't spend all night playing that game," his father said sternly. "It might be a Friday night, but that's no excuse to blow off your homework until the last minute. Didn't you say you had a big report due on Monday?"

"Yeah," Danny glanced briefly at his parents, shrinking only slightly under their glares. "I'm going to get to it. I just wanted to relax a little before diving into such stressful work."

His mother sighed eventually, letting up on her glare. "As long as it gets done and we don't hear anything bad from your teachers." She gave him one last pointed glare before she pushed her husband out the front door.

Danny rolled his eyes after hearing the door shut behind his parents. They could be a bit pushy about keeping up with his studies, which he found highly annoying, but he got passing grades, so they didn't have much reason to worry. His opponent rounded the corner in his video game, and before he could react, his character took a bullet to the head. The screen turned red as YOU LOSE flashed in big letters.

"Oh, come on!" Danny complained in frustration as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. One moment of distraction had cost him the round, and he could practically hear his opponent gloating over the victory, even though he had muted his headset while his parents were talking to him.

"Having problems with that game?" his sister asked when she hit the bottom of the stairs. She didn't look at him as she rifled distractedly through her bag.

"Eh," Danny shrugged his good shoulder as he accepted a second challenge from the same player. Thankfully, he had managed to get away without his family noticing the injury, which would have led to questions demanding answers, especially from Jazz. "You know, the 'rents chatting and distracting me. Let the guy sneak up on me." He flicked his gaze to Jazz. "I think Mom left us some dinner in the fridge." He turned his attention back to the game with enough time to manage dodging another sneak attack, which would have definitely ended in his brutal defeat.

"I've got a study date tonight," Jazz said, closing up her bag, "so you're all on your own." She grabbed her coat from the front hall closet.

Danny bolted up straight from his lounging position and snapped his head around so fast to stare at his sister something could have popped. He forced back a wince as the pull of his shoulder muscles aggravated the injury. "Study date?" He quickly got his character into a safe spot so he could glare at his sister fully, doing his best impression of their father's glare of disapproval.

He _guessed_ his sister would be considered pretty with her long auburn hair and bright aqua colored eyes, shining with her eagerness to learn. Elected class president, head of the debate team, member of several different clubs and activities, her involvement in their high school made her younger brother look like the ultimate slacker. It was infuriating sometimes, being in her shadow and having people compare him to her.

"Do I need to do the thing where I stalk you to make sure nothing untoward happens on this 'study' date?"

Jazz rolled her eyes at him. "Do I need to call a babysitter to ensure you stay at home and behave yourself?" After pulling on her coat, she shouldered her bag as she gave him a flat glare. "Anyway this study date is with Maggie. She needs help with her calculus homework and wants to go over a few things before our test on Monday. You," she pointed a finger with a threat almost entering her eyes, "stay here. And don't get into trouble."

"Pfft!" Danny snorted and rolled his eyes as he turned back to his game, thankfully his opponent hadn't found his hiding location. "I'm not going to get into trouble."

"Good." His sister walked toward the front door. "And don't forget to do _your_ homework."

"Yes, _Mom_." Danny made a face, and his sister returned it. Then they both laughed and said goodbyes as Jazz left the house. When he was alone with only the sounds of the game filling the house, he tapped the headset to turn it back on as he focused on the match against his opponent. The first thing to meet his ears was loud laughter on the other end.

"Hello," the man's deep voice sang out, "earth to AstroNerd! Did I lose you? Are you off orbiting the planet? Should I call up NASA to send a search party to find you?"

Danny tried but couldn't hold back the laugh that burst out of him. "I'm back," he assured his opponent. "Just had to get rid of some distractions."

"Oh, OH! There you are!" A bullet nearly struck Danny's character, and only his quick reaction saved him. "That was sneaky! You have to tell where your magical hiding spot is. I swear I ran all over this stupid map and couldn't find you."

"Heh." Danny grinned, firing back, but his opponent was well skilled at the game and did some freakish acrobatics to escape the kill shot. "You tell me how you do stuff like that first."

"Ha! You ain't cool enough to steal my moves."

Then his character was charging toward Danny's, shooting out a barrage of bullets that made Danny have to duck behind a building on his rooftop to avoid getting hit. He could still see his opponent's character from the camera angle, and his mouth dropped as he watched the character vault the gap from one building to the next. Then he vanished out of sight. A scream was the last thing he heard before a splat sounded and the words YOU WIN screamed across his screen. Danny laughed so hard tears nearly ran from his eyes.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Danny managed to say between fits of laughter.

"I totally could have made that jump in real life!" his opponent argued.

Danny snorted, struggling to calm himself after the spectacular suicide his opponent just did. "I don't advise you try it."

"This game is clearly lacking in some serious realism if it thinks a man can't make that jump," he argued, actually sounding like he might be pouting. "I feel highly insulted."

"Aw!" Danny tried to keep the amusement out of his voice and sound sympathetic. Honest he did! "Maybe you should write them a complaint informing them of their errors."

"Ha! Maybe I will!"

Danny shook his head with a wide grin on his face. "Well, my formidable opponent, I shall leave you to that then. I have some work to take care of."

The man gasped in a wounded manner. "You have something more important than me?"

"Sorry." Danny frowned, only because he _was_ enjoying talking to the man. "I only have a short window to work before I have people around to ruin things."

"Ah." Disappointment lingered in the man's tone. "Well, I have a bit of work I should be doing now too. And I'm now adding AstroNerd to my friend list. I never actually thought I'd used the thing."

"So... What? I'm the only friend on your list?" Danny blinked in surprise.

"Ja." The man tried for a German accent but failed miserably. "And how many do you have, Mr. Big Shot?"

Danny opened up his friends list and frowned at it. After a moment, he added his opponent to the list. "Three now," he said with a satisfied feeling. Tucker and Sam were the only people who he knew, and random opponents generally didn't want to add him to their friends list. He had run across his fair share of jerks.

"And you were going to make fun of me?"

Danny's face heated, and he was glad the man couldn't see him. "Yeah, yeah," he said, going for cool and aloof. "At least I'm not the loser going around being known by an initial."

"Oh!" There was something wicked in his voice, a deviousness that made Danny nervous. "You totally want the D."

Danny nearly choked. "The D?" He laughed, awkwardly and strained and prayed the man didn't catch it. "Do people even say that anymore? I thought that died, like, five seconds after it started. Dude, that was really lame." He shifted on the couch, feeling flustered. "That totally wasn't a come on, right?"

"What? No! The D is so still a thing. Are you trapped on the moon or something?" A smirk slipped into his voice as he added, "If you want it to be."

Danny eyed the television as a strange laugh forced itself out of him. "Uh, yeah, so I have that thing still to do. I guess I'll catch you sometime later?"

"You bet!" D sounded a little too happy, almost like he was bouncing with excitement. "Don't get lost amongst the stars, AstroNerd."

Danny snorted. "Yeah, I'll try." After goodbyes, he shook his head as he yanked off the headset. He pushed himself off the couch, carrying headset and game controller over to the entertainment unit. Once the game system was shut off, Danny grabbed his bag from where he left it by the couch. A slow smile crept onto his face as he hurried into the kitchen.

With his parents off to a meeting and now with his sister gone, Danny had plenty of time to do a little poking around without his parents being the wiser. When he reached the door leading to the basement, he crouched down and pulled out two thin bits of wire from his pocket. His tongue poked out of his mouth as he moved the wires about inside the lock, working the tumblers until he heard the familiar click signaling the release. With a wide grin, he pushed open the door.

"One of these days, I should thank Aunt Alicia for teaching me that." Danny stuffed the lock picks back into his pockets then bounded down the stairs into the basement, almost able to ignore the soreness in his shoulder. The lights came on the moment he hit the bottom of the stairs, shining off metal surfaces. His parents' laboratory. It took his breath away every time he sneaked into it for a little peek at their research. It was like stepping onto the set for some futuristic movie with technology they couldn't even imagine yet, like when he was at Axion Labs, but his parents' laboratory had a much different feel to it. With some of his parents' mess around, the laboratory had a far less clinical atmosphere.

Danny dropped into a chair, pulling out a worn notebook stuffed with a million extra sheets of paper from his bag. He flipped on the computer before him, and while it was booting up, he put on his glasses and sifted through his notebook to find a clean page, which was far more difficult than he would have thought. Pages upon pages of the book were filled with his notes on his parents' research. Currently, they were studying the uses of ectoplasm, which was fascinating, though the scientific community at large believed their research to be the stuff of science fiction. The other scientists didn't believe in such "nonsense" as ghosts, but it didn't stop his parents from digging into everything they could about ectoplasm, which wasn't a lot and samples were hard to come by. They believed it could have many uses, such as their theory on it providing a self sustaining energy source. A fact he knew Sam would love to hear about since she was all about saving the environment.

Once the computer was up and running, Danny grinned like a child about to open Christmas presents. With a crack of his knuckles, he got to work, bringing up new files on his parents' work. He jotted down notes while he read through the files, occasionally crossing out some parts to rework equations. Every once and a while, he had to pause in his work to scratch at the back of his neck, right over the bandage. For the last few hours, he had tried to ignore the growing itch, but he eventually had to cave when the sensation became too much.

Focusing back on his book, he wrote out his own thoughts along the margin of the page, and within minutes, he had to flip to another page. Time ticked by fast than he realized, and an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Danny stretched his arms over his head, cringing as his injured shoulder screamed in protest. Then something on the screen caught his attention. He clicked on a file hidden behind another one. His blue eyes flicked over the information, and he nearly laughed. He spun around in the chair, and his eyes zeroed onto the overly obvious doors set into the wall on the other side of the laboratory.

"They finally finished it!"

Danny hopped up from the chair then walked over to the octagonal doors of yellow and black stripes. According to his parents' notes, they had tested the invention a number of times without success since its completion. Danny stared at the doors before him with a mixture of apprehension and excitement building inside him. Hesitantly, he reached out, and his hand hovered over the red button next to the door for several long moments before he finally pressed it. The doors whined as they broke apart and slowly opened, and he got his first sight of the metal interior. It was amazingly intricate work, and Danny's eyes widened as he tried to take it all in at once. He had witnessed its progress over many years, but it was only bits and pieces then, not the completed product currently standing before him. The machine was designed to punch a small hole between dimensions, his parents hoping it would allow them to "summon" a ghost, like some bizarre demonic circle, so they could further their research on ectoplasm. This was all theory though, since they had no proof of an alternate world made up of ghosts actually existing.

Dropping his gaze, he looked around until he saw the wire lying on the floor. Unplugged. He shook his head at himself. Of course it was unplugged. His parents wouldn't leave the machine plugged in while they weren't there to monitor it. Crouching down, Danny picked up the wire to the machine then pushed it into the extension cord reaching around to the nearest socket. His eyes turned toward the machine, but he only saw a small spark, which fizzled out quickly.

With a frown settling upon his face, Danny walked over to the machine. Their theory seemed sound enough to him. So what was preventing the machine from working? Going against his better judgment, Danny stepped through the open doors. He frowned as his fingers brushed over the work his parents had done, still in awe over the fact that his parents finally finished it. But after nearly half an hour, he had searched practically the entire inside of the machine only to find nothing seemed out of place. None of the components were damaged, all wires were connected, and everything was firmly built into its proper place. He scratched the back of his neck, the irritation of the cut increasing by the minute, as he tried to understand where his parents' theory could have gone wrong.

"I just don't get it," Danny mumbled, frowning in disappointment. Maybe they still had a lot of research to do before they could get the machine working after all. He pressed his hand to the wall as he stood from where he had knelt to look at some parts of the machine.

The doors slammed shut with a resounding bang. Danny stumbled back a few steps, nearly tripping and landing on his butt in his surprise. When he rushed forward in his panic, he banged into the doors in the darkness.

"Ow." He rubbed at his forehead, but the whirring of a machine starting up sent icy dread sliding down his spine. He clawed at the doors with little luck of prying them open. He couldn't even get his fingers into the small crease between the closed doors.

Then every muscle in his body tensed, the hair on his arms standing on end, when he heard a sharp popping. He recognized that noise. It was like the time they went to the science museum and he saw the exhibit where bolts of electricity danced around the room. Swallowing thickly, Danny turned around, pressing his back against the doors. Another pop of electricity echoed in his ears, flashing before his eyes and striking too close to him for comfort. For a moment, the whole chamber filled with a green glow before everything faded back to darkness. His heart hammered in his chest as he watched and heard the pops of electricity sing out within the machine, making his ears ring. The itch on the back of his neck, right where had was cut earlier, grew maddeningly worse as the electricity came over nearer to striking him. He ducked as another bolt shot at him. If he stayed within the machine for too much longer, he - Danny froze, his breath catching in his throat. The doors refused to open, and they were the only exit from within the machine.

"Oh. Oh, this is ba - GAH!" A scream tore from his throat, and he hit the metal floor hard on his knees. He curled into a ball, wrapping his arms around his sides where the bolts had struck him. His body trembled as he sucked in shaky breaths. He clamped his eyes shut and tucked his head down, though he doubted it would save him from what was happening. He couldn't escape. All he could he do was hope he somehow survived.

It sounded like the fourth of July, the big finale with a thousand fireworks all exploding at once, and Danny's ears rang with the noise. Every crackle of electricity felt drawn to him, striking his body from all angles. Screams were ripped from him as if someone shoved their hand down his throat and tried to tear out his vocal cords, scratching sharp nails up his throat on the way out. Fire spread through his body, consuming him in a heat which made his skin feel like it would melt from his body and leave his ashes blowing away in the wind. Ice crept into his bone, freezing them straight down the marrow and making his joints ache at even the slightest movement, and despite his best effort to remain as still as possible, every shock of electricity made his body jerk until he collapsed onto his side and his body twitched in uncontrollable spasms.

Unconsciousness was a blessing, floating in darkness where he was numb to all the pain assaulting his body. But all too soon, it felt, the pain came back as he stirred. Danny gasped, his fingers twitching and clawing at the metal floor. His skin tingled everywhere, fire and ice mixing in a strange effect that left him shivering and sweating. His mouth and throat were badly parched, and he dimly wondered if this was what it felt like when someone ate about a dozen cotton balls. Or, in his case, he would likely have them rammed down his throat by Dash.

With some effort, he managed to tear open his eyes. Light filled the inside of the machine, the world appearing dull and gray to him. His brain couldn't process the fact at first, too much like mush to make any connections. The doors of the machine had opened while he was unconscious. Danny stared toward the opening. Just how long had he been unconscious? Minutes could have passed, or hours could have gone by.

His heart stopped as a thought stabbed through the haze of his brain. What would his parents say if they came home right then to find him collapsed on the floor of the machine? They would know he had sneaked into the laboratory! He knew it was a stupid thing to be concerned about at the moment. He had just survived massive electrocution, but he only cared about not letting his parents know he had gone against their orders and messed around in the laboratory.

Danny pushed himself up on trembling arms but immediately dropped back to the floor. He groaned, a whimper escaping him at the weakness he felt as everything in him cried out in pain. Slapping a hand onto the floor before him, he pulled with the minimal strength he had toward the exit of the machine. The tingling sensation of pins and needles danced around his legs. They felt weightless, and Danny's stomach churned at the idea that he didn't even have legs anymore. Gulping, which had a sort of metallic taste, Danny dared to turn his head. The breath rushed out of him when he saw his legs laying limply behind him. At least he wouldn't have to figure out some sort of excuse to explain why he didn't have legs. Unless they no longer worked.

Dread settled over him, almost leaving him cold and breathless. Danny concentrated, his brow pinching together and his eyes squinting at his legs. Then his left leg gave a jerk. He sighed out, dropping his head to rest on the floor. Legs worked. Good. He turned his head to rest on the side and stared at the machine around him. It was dangerous. He saw no evidence of it opening a doorway into another dimension, specifically one where ghosts resided, but it was incredibly dangerous. He couldn't risk his parents trying something like what just happened to him. What if they didn't survive an accident like that? How did he survive it? That much electricity striking his body all at once, he should be dead! He stared at the arm laying before his head. His skin was pale and smooth, hardly looking like he had gone through any sort of traumatic experience.

He lay there for some time, gathering up his strength before he dared trying to stand. When he got to his feet, his legs shook under him. He wobbled into the wall of the machine and leaned against it as he caught his breath. Exhaustion whispered to him and told him to simply lay back down and sleep for a month. But he couldn't stay in the laboratory, and he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep on the floor of the machine. He shuddered thinking about it. He took several trembling steps toward the exit of the machine, but he stopped before reaching it. He fumbled with the side of the machine, his fingers having difficulty grasping the edges of the panel. It popped open easily once he could get a hold on it, and he stared at the cylindrical container inside the panel. It was about the width and length of his forearm from elbow to wrist.

Originally, it was filled with almost all the ectoplasm his parents had managed to acquire. They still maintained a small sample to experiment with, though that would hardly fill the container halfway. But now the container barely had a few drop of the bright green substance inside it. The ectoplasm was the key to the machine working. Without the container full of ectoplasm, his parents would never get the machine operating. He pried the container out of the panel, awkwardly holding it to his chest with one arm. Then he slammed the panel shut, hoping his parents wouldn't check it if they tested the machine again.

Danny wobbled out of the machine, stumbling and nearly dropping the container when his foot caught on the wire. He looked down to see he had yanked it free from the extension cord, and a sigh escaped him. That saved him the struggle of having to bend down to unplug it. He wasn't sure at this point if he would be able to stand back up again if he crouched or knelt. When he reached the computer where he left his things, he checked the time and gasped. Half past nine. He was down here for that long? His parents and sister had left around five, and he had only looked through the computer for about an hour or two, possibly three, which meant he was unconscious for at least an hour and a half.

After he cramped the container and his notebook into his bag, he shut down the computer. He had to get out of the laboratory and leave it like he found it to keep his parents from discovering his secret activities. He could imagine the lecture already about disobeying them and messing around with dangerous inventions like they were toys, and he cringed. When he finished, he tossed his bag over his shoulder, and the added weight made him stumble.

"Ugh, homework is going to have to wait," Danny groaned, glad tomorrow was Saturday. The climb up the stairs to the kitchen felt like hiking up a super steep mountain. The lights flipped off as soon as he reached the top of the stairs, and he kicked the door shut behind him, hearing the click of the lock. The time on the microwave read ten minutes to ten. He did his best to hurry up the stairs to his bedroom before his parents returned home from their meeting. He wanted to at least give the illusion he went upstairs to work on his homework like they had wanted. The front door opened as he reached his bedroom, and he ducked inside, carefully closing the door behind him so it didn't bang.

"We're home," his father called from downstairs.

"Uh, w-welcome back!" Danny called back, his throat still feeling raw from screaming. "I'm just doing some homework." He waited, listening, but his parents seemed satisfied with his lame response. After tossing his bag in the general direction of his desk, though it dropped about a foot from where he stood, he walked over to his bed and collapsed onto it. Sleep hit him at once, all the energy in him draining out in an instant.


	9. Chapter 9

He twitched, his whole body jerking in a spasm. The pops of electricity dancing all around him, striking against metal and flesh, still rang deafeningly in his ears. He could still feel burning and freezing sensation battling inside him at each painful shock. His hair stood on end, and his skin tingled. His throat ran dry, and gasping for breath, Danny snapped out of his sleep, sweating and shivering. Around him was the machine that had excited his interested but now filled him with cold, paralyzing dread. He clamped his eyes shut, swallowing hard, trying to wet his parched throat and mouth.

When he opened his eyes again, he was sitting on his bed in his room, the pale morning light streaming in through the part in the curtains on his windows. Danny collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving as the nightmare - No! The memories flashed through his head on a constant loop. His stomach churned, and he pushed down the bile threatening to rise up his throat.

"Orion's belt!" Danny croaked out, his voice hoarse, as he rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms. It was real. What happened last night was all real. Some part of him hoped he had imagined the whole thing. Maybe he could concede that his sister was right and spending all night playing video games was a bad idea. But no, it was real. Somehow he had survived being electrocuted within the machine his parents built. It didn't make any sense. He should be dead after something like that. He lifted his hands from his eyes and held them over his head. Nothing looked different about them. He turned them over, eyes scanning for any evidence of what happened, but his skin was the same smooth pale as always.

With a groan, he forced himself to climb out of bed. He still felt stiff and sluggish from the events of last night. He scrubbed a hand over his face as he shuffled toward the door of his room, nearly tripping over his bag. After nudging the bag aside with his foot, he reached out to grab the doorknob.

"Ow!" He yelped, jerking his hand back as a bolt of static arched between his fingers and the doorknob. The brief flash of green stopped his heart. The memories washed over him again, just as vividly as if he were experiencing the accident again. His body trembled, his legs feeling almost too weak to support him. His breath hitched and rattled in his chest as all he could manage to suck in was short gasps of air. Trying force himself to calm down, he brought his focus back to the present, his bug eyed stare still on his outstretched hand. His stomach gave a lurch and his head swam as he took in the sickly pale green, almost translucent, skin of his right hand. Jagged veins of darker green spider webbed out from various points on his hand and up his arms. There was a word for that. Jazz would probably know it, but Danny's mind couldn't grab at any words at the moment.

After a minute, or twenty, of panicking, the color finally faded back to the usual pale he was used to, leaving no sign of the scars. Danny blinked a few times, rubbed at his eyes, but his hand and arm looked normal again. What had happened to him in that accident?

He grabbed the doorknob, harder than he meant, and he felt the metal knob give slightly in his grip. Ignoring it, he jogged down the hall toward the bathroom then slammed the door once he was inside it. He didn't even care if the noise woke up the rest of his family. Scrambling over to the mirror, he stared at his reflection, expecting - He wasn't sure what he expected. Maybe some sign like with his hand earlier? But he only saw the same old Danny Fenton staring back at him. He reached up and raked a hand through his hair.

He froze. Something registering within the panic of his mind. He stared at his reflection, nothing unusual about it, but his right hand remained tangled in his raven locks. His right arm. The one he injured yesterday while at Axion Labs. The one that should be throbbing in agony right now when he had it lifted. He tugged off his shirt, his breath short and heart pounding. The shirt was tossed to the side, and he lifted up his right arm, examining his shoulder. No bruises were left there, like the mechanical arm hadn't grabbed hold of him and nearly ripped his arm out of its socket. He rolled his shoulder, waiting for the throb of pain, the scream of protest from his muscles, but there was nothing. His injury had healed!

Curious, he turned his back to the mirror, twisting his head to stare at his reflection over his shoulder. Then he peeled away the bandage Dash had slapped over the cut. He could still remember the maddening intensity of the itchy sensation the cut had caused last night. Now he felt nothing. He stared at the back of his neck, almost expecting to find no sign of injury after seeing his shoulder. But a small scar remained. It stood out whiter than his skin, but - He moved closer to the mirror, squinting at the small, jagged scar. It held a faint green coloring to it that he probably would have overlooked if what happened in his bedroom hadn't occurred. He could also see a few greenish veins stretching out from the scar like branches of lightning.

What should he do? Danny rubbed the scar absently as he considered his options. Should he tell someone? His parents would be disappointed in him for disobeying them, and Danny wasn't even sure he wanted to know what they would do after hearing about the whole accident. And he still didn't even understand what the accident had done to him! He couldn't tell Jazz because she would simply go straight to their parents with the information. He bit the inside of his cheek.

Hearing a knock on the bathroom door, Danny jumped, banging back into the sink. Or he would have banged into it, except instead, he found himself standing halfway through it. "Uh," Danny mumbled, struggling to shove down the panic building up in him, but his mind kept screaming a string of curses and he couldn't _think_. His body was shaking, and it was the same weird sickly faint green his hand had turned after the electrostatic shock from the doorknob. He twisted around to face the mirror.

"Oh sweet nebula," Danny muttered, eyes growing wide. His eyes were _glowing_ and _green_ , and his hair was pure white! He raked a trembling hand through his hair and gulped down air as best he could.

"Danny," his sister called, pounding again upon the door. "Do you plan on spending all day in there? I would like to take a shower, you know."

"Uh, I'll be right out," Danny called, hoping his voice didn't sound as shaky as he felt. "Just give me a minute."

He stepped back away from the mirror, sliding easily out of the sink. But how to change back to normal? Before, in his bedroom, his hand had reverted back on its own. He took deep breaths to calm himself and his still racing heart. Maybe if he simply concentrated, he could do it. After some time, sweat beading upon his brow, his skin was back to its usual color. He blinked, and his eyes were blue again. Black crept back into his hair. With a sigh, he nearly sank to the ground, but another insistent knock on the door stopped him.

"Hold your horses. Geeze, Jazz!" Danny grumbled as he snatched up his shirt from the floor. He opened the bathroom door to find his sister waiting impatiently outside. "All yours," he told her, stepping aside with a sweeping bow.

"You're such a dork sometimes." Jazz rolled her eyes. As she passed him, she ruffled his hair then closed the door behind her.

Danny returned to his room, closing the door behind him. When he glanced at the inside knob, he frowned at the slight dent in the metal. What was happening to him? He needed to figure out some answers. Grabbing some clean clothes, Danny got dressed in a hurry, stumbling about as he yanked on his jeans and getting tangled up in his shirt before he straightened it out. He picked up his phone and hit the first number on his call list that wasn't family.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Sam demanded groggily when she answered.

Danny glanced at the clock. "It's a quarter to nine."

" _On a Saturday_ ," Sam stressed, clearly not a morning person.

"Sorry, but this is important. I really need to talk to you and Tucker about something." Danny tugged on a hooded sweatshirt, his Casper High one with their mascot the raven on the back. "Um," he scratched a hand through his hair then slapped it down against his side, "can you just meet me at the usual place?"

"Is everything okay?" Sam sounded more awake now, concern entering her voice.

Danny frowned as he considered his answer. "I'm not sure. Just meet me there, okay?"

"Okay. Yeah, okay. I'll pick up Tucker and meet you there in, like, twenty minutes."

"Thanks, Sam." Danny smiled in relief as he grabbed his keys and wallet. "And sorry about bothering you so early in the morning."

"Don't worry about it. See you there."

"See you," Danny agreed then ended the call and stuffed his phone into his pocket. He hurried down the stairs, making a detour to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

"You're up early," his mother said from the table where she was reading one section of the newspaper.

"Made plans with Tucker and Sam." Danny snagged an apple from the bowl on the counter. "I'll be back later."

"Don't ride that skateboard while you're eating!" his father called as Danny headed toward the front door. "And don't forget about your homework!"

"I won't," Danny shouted back. He grabbed his skateboard from where it rested against the hall wall near the door. As soon as he left the house, he put the skateboard on the ground and climbed on, pushing off away from the house. He munched on the apple as he leisurely made his way toward the usual meeting spot. It wasn't too far from his house, so he could get away with taking his time.

He reached the usual spot with plenty of time to spare, locating a trashcan in the corner of the front room in the abandoned house to throw away the core of his finished apple. The house was rather creepy, rundown and basically ready to be condemned. The city simply hadn't gotten around to caring enough about tearing it down and rebuilding something else on the lot of land. He remembered the first time he visited the house with Tucker and Sam on a dare when they were thirteen. Dash didn't think Danny would be brave enough to spend a night in the old house which creaked even in the gentlest of breezes. Danny guessed the fact he and his friends had not only stayed in the house but had a fun time playing stupid games the whole night was part of why some people thought they were freaks. No one else even wanted to set foot in the house, which made it a great place to meet and discuss things in private.

"I hope you have a good reason for dragging me out of bed so early on a Saturday," Tucker complained as he entered the front room. He reached up and covered a wide yawn with one hand, his usual red beret hanging slightly out of place on his head. Danny could see some of his friend's curly hair peeking out from under the beret. Tucker pretty much hated letting anyone see his hair, ever since one of the jocks had stolen his beret and showed off his shaggy locks to everyone at school. His face had turned almost as red as his beret before he managed to snatch it back and shove it back onto his head while everyone laughed.

"Yeah, you didn't sound good on the phone." Sam frowned at him in concern.

"Something," Danny sat on the creaky floor, his feet resting on his skateboard and absently sliding it back and forth, "weird happened." His friends joined him, sitting before him with their legs crossed and expectant looks on their faces. _No backing out now_ , he realized. His friends would want answers, and they could be extremely persistent if he tried to avoid telling them the truth. He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Okay. So here's the thing. You know my parents are scientists."

"Yeah," Tucker said, cocking an eyebrow. "And you never talk about anything they do."

"Or why the basement is such a big secret," Sam added, and she narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

"That's because technically, I'm not even supposed to know about what they work on down there," Danny argued defensively. "And anyway the rest of the science community basically laughs at their theories because they believe in ghosts and think ectoplasm could be a useful resource once they've been able to study it and experiment on all the stuff it can do." His friends merely stared at him, waiting for more, and Danny relaxed somewhat in relief, thankful they didn't start laughing at him. "Ectoplasm is this rare thing, so they don't have a lot to work with. That's when they came up with the idea of creating a machine that could punch a hole between dimensions because they believe there's this parallel world where ghosts live."

"Danny," Tucker said warily, the color draining slightly from his face, "are we going to have to worry about ghosts popping up and terrorizing us?"

Danny shrugged. "It didn't work." He frowned, turning his gaze away. "At least, when my parents tried it, it didn't work."

"Danny!" Sam punched him hard on the arm. "You did not start up that machine!"

"I just wanted to take a look!" Danny rubbed at his arm. "By the way, ow." He leaned back on his hands. "I've been tracking my parents' progress basically since day one on that project. You can't blame me for being a little curious." But from the glares he received, he guessed maybe they could. "I don't know what happened. It didn't go on when I plugged it in. Then I was looking at things, and," he hunched up his shoulders, "suddenly I was trapped inside."

"Trapped inside?" Tucker's eyebrows rose, halfway looking concerned while the other half looked terrified.

"What exactly happened?" Sam questioned, leaning forward as her elbows balanced on his knees.

"Well, there was lots of," Danny forced down a sick feeling as he remembered what happened in the chamber, "electrical sparks shooting off. Um, hitting me. And then I kind of passed out."

"What?" Sam shouted.

"Dude!" Tucker's eyes were so wide Danny could see the white all around his irises. "If - If you were hit with enough electricity, you should be dead!"

"I've realized that. Thank you," Danny responded drily. "But that's not even the weirdest part."

"I'm not sure I like where any of this is going," Tucker mumbled.

"I can't really tell you what happened or even really explain it." Danny scratched a hand through his hair, frustrated with his lack of understanding. "Somehow I survived, even though I probably should have been killed, burnt to a crisp, after all that electricity hitting me. But I lived. And now," he sucked in a shaky breath, "now I have - I don't know." He glanced hesitantly at his friends. "Abilities?" His brow knitted with worry.

"Like those superheroes in comics?" Tucker asked skeptically as he folded his arms. "I think I'm gonna need some proof of that."

Danny rolled his eyes, but he couldn't blame his friend. If Tucker or Sam were telling a similar story to him, he would want proof too. "It's not like I have any sort of control over it." He tugged on an ear as he frowned. "It's just sort of happened."

"Well, if you do have powers, you should figure out how to control them," Sam said, her expression serious, but her violet eyes held a spark of excitement. "You don't want to be going through a day at school and suddenly do whatever you do. You might as well start trying to control it now."

"You seem way too happy about this." Danny sighed, but he tried to concentrate. Nothing happened, and he could see his friends begin to think he was only telling a tall tale. "I swear this morning I actually, like, phased through the sink!" he told them earnestly, needing them to believe him. Because if they didn't believe him, if he couldn't prove he was speaking the truth, then he could only think he was losing his mind.

Then, as if answering his desperation, he sank through the floor with a startled yelp.

"Danny!" his friends shouted as they scrambled over and caught his flailing arms before he could fall all the way through the floor. They helped pull him back up and onto his feet.

"Holy motherboard! Your hair is white!" Tucker gawked at him with wide green eyes and mouth hanging open. "You really do have abilities!" He poked at Danny's cheek, clearly fascinated by the strange appearance of pale green skin and darker green veins. Frowning, Danny swatted at the hand.

"I do have to pose the question though." Sam's mouth pressed thin, and she looked like she might not actually want to ask. "Why didn't you go to your parents with this?" Thankfully, neither of his friends showed signs of being disgusted or afraid of how he appeared.

"I panicked!" Danny's heart still raced from the shock of falling through the floor, but he felt relieved at the same time. He wasn't crazy. The accident _had_ done something to him. He had powers, or at least, he was able to move through solid objects, though he had zero control over it at the moment. "And can you imagine the amount of trouble I'd be in if my parents knew I had been messing around with their research?"

"But on the other hand," Tucker cringed, "that accident could have killed you. And your parents sound like they're about the only people who would have any understanding about what happened to you."

"Yeah, great," Danny grumbled. "They can turn me into a lab rat or something."

"Okay. So we keep this to ourselves," Sam said, the excited gleam entering her eyes again, and Danny could only imagine how much she liked the idea of being a part of this secret. "We can test out if you have any other abilities and train you to control them."

"Yeah," Danny rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, "I kind of put a dent in my doorknob already."

"Intangibility _and_ super strength?" Tucker's eyes bugged behind his glasses.

"Definitely going to work on control then." Sam frowned, some thought passing through her head. "I don't want you to pat me on the back or something and send me flying down the hall at school."

Danny winced as he imagined that happening. "Yeah, okay. And we should definitely run some tests. Like a physical and blood work. That might provide some answers too."

"Well, my freaky friend," Tucker slapped a hand against Danny's back, "let's get started then."


	10. Chapter 10

Danny yawned tiredly as he read over the question on his homework for the sixth time in a row. His mind kept wandering back to the events of the day. He had spent hours in the abandoned house with his friends, trying to get some sort of control over his newly discovered powers. They moved to the basement of the house, which probably wasn't the safest place if the house decided to come down on top of them, but they would avoid being seen, on the off chance someone decided to brave peeking into the house. It hadn't happened yet, but Danny felt a need to be cautious.

The training hadn't gone well at all. A flash of heat crept onto his cheeks as he remembered the embarrassing moments of running into walls when he tried to turn intangible. Tucker had a great laugh each time. He also had a rambling list of power ideas for him to test, but Danny could barely even get the intangibility to work on command. After a while, he had to stop. Simply trying to get the powers to work and being in that weird other form was exhausting, zapping out his energy fairly quickly. He was forced to sit and rest or risk passing out.

"We're here outside one of the facilities owned by the Manson family," announced one of the reporters on the television. Lance Powder, or something. Danny couldn't bother to remember the name when he usually only had the news on in the background while he did homework or studied. But the mention of Sam's family drew his attention, and he lifted his head to stare at the screen. "Let's see if the police have any information for us about the robbery."

Danny's elbow fell through the table, and he nearly banged his chin on it before he caught himself. He sat up straight, eyes darting around, but luckily he was alone in the front room for the moment. With a sigh, he relaxed, tension easing from his shoulders. He would have to be far more careful about not accidentally turning intangible when someone might catch him.

"Unfortunately," said the police officer who Lance Powder shoved a microphone in the face of, "the security cameras had their feeds cut prior to the robbery taking place, so we have no video of the culprit."

Danny recognized the man, even without the name being displayed at the bottom of the screen. Damon Gray was not only the well respected police chief but was also Valerie's father. Danny felt a little queasy thinking about returning to school on Monday. He escaped having to do anything for Valerie yesterday because of the field trip to Axion Labs, and he was still upset about missing out on all the space exploration stuff he would have seen. His hand rubbed at the back of his neck, tracing the jagged scar. Valerie would probably be expecting him to do something to embarrass the top A List women. Danny groaned, thinking about how Dash would be gunning for him if he did anything more to humiliate Paulina.

"Can you tell us what the burglar stole?" Lance questioned with a flip of his blond hair and a charming smile tossed to the camera. Danny rolled his eyes. He had never liked the reporter because Lance always seemed more interested in his appearance and looking good on television than the story he was supposed to be reporting. Lance just had that egotistical personality reminding Danny too much of the A List and rubbing him the wrong way.

"At this point in time, we are still assessing the situation and talking with the employees who were on duty during the time of the robbery," Police Chief Gray explained, not looking too pleased at having his work interrupted to deal with an obnoxious reporter. He turned his head away from the camera. "Sorry. It seems my men need me." He walked off without giving Lance a chance make any sort of response, leaving the reporter with no one to interview.

Lance laughed awkwardly after being abandoned. "Well, it seems the police chief wants to keep a tight lid on this incident." His expression suggested he thought Damon Gray was hiding something without needing to voice his opinion out loud. "I'll keep digging into this case and keep you posted on whatever I find out. This is Lance Thunder." He showed off another winning grin with his pearly white teeth flashing at the camera. "Back to you, Tiffany."

The television cut back to the newsroom where a perky auburn haired woman smiled at the camera. She launched into the next news story, and Danny lost interest in watching and turned his attention back to his homework.

"You were gone for most of the day," Jazz commented casually when she walked into the room a moment later. She came from the kitchen with a mug of steaming coffee in one hand and a thick book tucked under her other arm. Her homework was probably finished five minutes after they came home yesterday, and Danny felt an itch of irritation. The book she sat down with was her idea of reading for fun. Danny, meanwhile, enjoyed comic books and reading up on space.

"I was hanging out with my friends," Danny said, pondering over the question on his homework. Then he jotted down his answer, relief filling him when his hand didn't pass through the table or the pencil slip through his hand. "It is a Saturday. I'm allowed some downtime from homework."

"I'm just surprised you woke up so early." Jazz sipped at her coffee then leaned forward to set the mug down near him on the table. "Usually you're passed out until Saturday afternoon because you were up playing your games all night."

"I didn't play games all night," Danny grumbled, shoulders hunching forward. For once, it was true. He spent most of Friday night passed out after the accident in their parents' machine, but it was hardly restful sleep. "I worked on some homework then went to sleep. You know, you don't have to rush to get all your homework done at once."

"Ah, but see, if you did, you would have the entire weekend freed up." Jazz sat on the couch behind him, but Danny could practically feel her grin boring into the back of his head. "Then you wouldn't spend Sunday night rushing to finish everything due on Monday."

Danny sighed as he set down his pencil and turned around to stare at his sister. "If you're just going to lecture me, I'm gonna leave and finish my homework in my room."

"Don't be so pouty!" Jazz nudged him in the shoulder with a toe. "I only hound you about your homework because I know you can be smart when you actually apply yourself. I get worried when you slack off. I don't want you working some dead end job because you didn't put in enough effort during school."

Danny sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know." He leaned against the table. "It's just we've done this conversation about a thousand times in the past. I do my homework. I get passing grades. You can relax on the whole worrying thing."

"Danny," Jazz reached up, drawing her long auburn hair back and tying it up in a ponytail, "if our roles were reversed and you were the older sibling, you would find that it's impossible to stop worrying about your younger sibling. It's just a fact of life." She tilted her head with a fond smile. "I worry because I care."

Danny groaned. "If you're going to be mushy and gross, I'm leaving."

Jazz rolled her aqua colored eyes with an amused smile as she poked at his shoulder with her foot. "Right. I forgot you get weird about mushy sibling stuff." She drew her legs up then opened her book. "Wouldn't you concentrate better with the TV off?"

"I could concentrate better without you talking in my ear." Danny made a face at his sister then turned his attention back to his homework.

He had a report to write, but he would need to get on his computer for that so he thought about completing it later, having already begun work on it. After he finished his physics, he still had a few more problems in math to do. At least he had the majority of his homework done. He nearly dropped his head to bang it on the table. He forgot Elle had called him yesterday to ask about having a tutoring session on the weekend until right now. The whole thing with the accident last night and discovering he could phase through solid objects had taken priority over tutoring. He pulled out his phone and made a note to remind himself to pay a visit to Elle tomorrow. It would look bad if he completely blew her off this weekend. Why would she want an unreliable loser like him being her tutor? He still couldn't answer why she would ask him in the first place.

"Actually," he said, closing his textbook, "I think I'll get that history report finished. That's going to take me the longest to get done, and the rest won't be all that hard to finish." He gathered up his things and stood.

"I hope you're not planning on doing things halfway." Jazz gave him a stern frown, her eyes like burning lasers of disapproval.

"How could I ever do things halfway with you constantly watching over my shoulder?" Danny teased then hopped away before his sister could kick him. "Ha, ha! You can't catch me!"

"One of these days, Gingerbread Man, you will meet your end, and it will be delicious."

"But that day is not today." Danny laughed as he left the front room, dodging the throw pillow Jazz tossed at him. He jogged up the stairs and headed down the hall to his bedroom. Dumping his bag by his desk and setting his books down, he flipped on his computer.

While the computer booted up, he walked over to his closet then yanked open the door. A full length mirror hung on the inside of the closet door, though Danny hardly used it. Now, though, he stared at his reflection. Boring, average Danny Fenton stared back at him, still dressed in his Casper High hooded sweatshirt and jeans. While at the abandoned house, he thought he might be getting the hang of summoning the shift in his appearance. It was about the only successful part of the day. With some concentration, the shift began, and he grew more accustomed to the odd sensation the more he pulled off the change.

"Oh man," Danny groaned, for the first taking notice of his clothes after shifting forms. His jeans had inverted from their usual blue to orange while his red hooded sweatshirt had turned green. He was surprised his friends hadn't laughed at him the entire time after seeing the awful color combination. Shaking his head, he focused on the rest of his appearance, now that he wasn't panicking. He stared dully at his face in the mirror. "I look like a freak," he muttered, pressing the fingers of his right hand against the mirror. He didn't even want to think of the insults Dash would sling at him if the jock could see him like this.

He didn't feel any different, and he wasn't sure if he should be concerned by that or not. Other than the strange appearance and intangibility, the accident didn't seem to have done anything else to him. He supposed he should consider himself lucky, but worry kept gnawing at the back of his mind. What if he had some sort of radiation poisoning slowly killing him without his knowing? The thought turned his stomach, and he thought his skin actually looked slightly greener.

He wanted to run some tests to see what the accident did to his body, but hanging out in the basement of an abandoned house, they didn't have any of the required equipment needed to run things like blood work and check on his vitals. Sam thought she might be able to sneak out some of the medical equipment from one of her parents' facilities. Danny froze as he recalled her mentioning that. The news report flashed through his mind again. Sam wouldn't stage a robbery of her own parents' facility, would she? Sam did like to rebel against her parents, but Danny couldn't imagine her going that far.

Reverting back to normal, Danny pulled out his phone as he walked over to his desk. After he hit Sam's number in his contacts, he pulled up the file with his history report. He would rather have a hundred English essays to write. The phone rang twice before Sam picked up.

"What's up now?" Sam questioned. "Discovered something about your, uh, condition?" Curiosity drove out any annoyance in her voice at the late night call.

"Ah, no, but," Danny leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his neck, "I saw this news report about a robbery at one of your parents' facilities."

"Oh," Sam responded less enthusiastically, and Danny could practically see her face with annoyance in her violet eyes and her lips pursed tightly. "My parents have been complaining all night about it, demanding answers from the police and why they haven't found the culprit yet and trying to figure out what was stolen."

"So you didn't do anything?" Danny cringed right after he asked the question, waiting on his friend to scream at him.

"Danny," Sam's dry voice made him swallow nervously, "do you honestly think I would do something like that?"

"W-Well, you did mention you thought you could get some stuff from your parents so we could try running some tests on me." Danny still thought using the equipment in his parents' laboratory was their best bet, but it would require them to wait for the perfect opportunity to sneak down there when his parents and sister weren't around to catch them.

"If I was going to take stuff from my parents, trust me," Sam's voice held a hint of a smirk, "they would never know about it. I definitely wouldn't pull a stupid stunt like that. Way too obvious. It's better to do things subtly so my parents will be completely oblivious to the fact that anything was taken."

"Ah." Danny felt even sillier for thinking Sam would have done it. "So do you have any idea what the burglar took?"

Sam sighed. "No. And if my parents have any idea, they haven't mentioned anything. The facility worked on a lot of different things that a robber might be interested in taking. Maybe the thief was looking for drugs. We had a lot of different stuff at that facility. Some of it isn't exactly stable either. If the person is planning on selling any of it, well, that could lead to lots of problems."

Danny gulped with an unsettled feeling, not liking the sound of that. "Well, I'm sure the police will find out who did it and have them arrested."

Hopefully before any unstable drugs made it to the general public, assuming the burglar stole drugs and not something else. The burglar could have just as easily stolen something else equally dangerous from the facility since, as Sam mentioned, the facility possessed many other things that could be sold for a fair price on the black market.

"I guess I better let you go now," Danny said, sighing internally at the thought of finishing his history report. "Boring homework to do and all." After they said their goodbyes, Danny placed his phone aside then cracked his knuckles before setting his mind on his history report.


	11. Chapter 11

Danny checked the directions on his phone as he skated down the street, weaving through the people milling around on a Sunday afternoon. He had slept in, by accident since he failed to hear his alarm go off, but another nightmare ended up waking him. His body had sank halfway through the bed at some point during the night, making him glad he slept with the door shut. The idea of needing to learn control over his powers felt all the more important when he imagined accidentally turning intangible in front of someone and dropping halfway through the floor.

The map on his phone showed he had reached his destination, and Danny put his foot down on the ground to stop his skateboard. Lifting his gaze from his phone, he tugged out an ear bud as he stared at the building before him. His phone slipped from his hand, and he fumbled to catch it before it hit the ground. His parents wouldn't be pleased if he broke his phone. Sam's family was among the wealthiest families in Amity Park, and Danny had grown used to seeing her mansion of a house after multiple visits. Elle's house looked more like a castle. Just who was Elle anyway? Since she attended the benefit, Danny knew her family was wealthy, but the large home made of white stone held such a regal impression. Was that a turret? He could imagine a princess trapped up there, like Rapunzel waiting to let down her long hair. His gaze darted around like he expected a dragon to come charging out and eat him before he could approach the front door.

Danny stuffed his phone and ear buds into his pockets then bent over to pick up his skateboard. A bad feeling settled over him as he passed through the front gates and walked down the long drive to the front door. Elle could probably afford the top tutors in every field of study. Why she want him to teach her? Maybe he should have convinced Jazz to come along with him so she could take over when he completely failed.

With a sigh, Danny raked his hand through his hair, trying to get the unruly raven locks into some semblance of order. After he rang the doorbell, he shoved his hands into his pockets with his skateboard tucked under one arm and waited. The minutes ticked by, and Danny thought he probably should have called ahead of time after all. Then the door opened. A short woman in a well fitted pantsuit greeted him with a flat expression. She had dark eyes behind her thick glasses, and they glared at Danny like he was a speck of unwanted dirt upon a floor she had just spent an hour waxing.

"Um," Danny said and gulped, his throat feeling much too dry, "I'm here to see Elle. She, uh," he shifted his weight nervously, "told me to drop by anytime over the weekend."

Her gaze flicked over him, and Danny had that same feeling every time Harold turned his nose up at him. Then she stepped aside, holding the door open for him. "I warn you now," she said with a slight narrowing of her eyes, "steal anything from this house and you will regret it."

Did he really give off some sort of thief vibe? Or did the rich just always assume the poor were looking for opportunities to steal from them? "I'm not going to take anything."

The woman didn't seem to believe him. She turned on her heel with a humph and began walking toward the stairs with the instruction, "Follow me."

Danny's eyebrows lifted as he noted the front hall of the house. The carpet leading up the stairs was a dark green with golden trim. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. When he glanced to the sides, he saw glass display cases mounted onto the walls. The cases held pennant banners of green and gold, jerseys, posters of teams, and even a football that looked like it might be signed.

_Ah_ , Danny thought with a nod of understanding. _A Packers fan_. Danny could imagine his father getting along with whomever owned all that paraphernalia since his father was also a big Packers fan.

The woman led him up the stairs and down a hall, and the house seemed to have more rooms than anyone could possibly need unless the family had about a hundred live in servants. As they neared the end of the hall, the loud beat of a bass boomed from behind one of the doors. The woman sighed in exasperation, probably not for the first time dealing with the obnoxious noise. She stopped in front of the door and knocked sharply three times. The music shut off after a moment. Then Danny heard a rustle before the door was yanked open.

With a scowl on her face, Elle appeared, looking somewhat disheveled with her ebony hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. A spaghetti strap on her white top slipped down one shoulder, and the black leggings she wore looked like something she might work out in and perhaps that was exactly what she was doing before he interrupted her. Her eyes lit up immediately when she spotted Danny standing behind the woman, and a smile stretched across her face.

"You came! I was beginning to think maybe this weekend wasn't a good time for you after all," Elle said as she opened the door wider, revealing more of her room. While the rest of the house was clean and orderly, Elle's room looked like it was struck by a tornado. Clothes littered the floor and bed, which was a complete mess. Books and magazines were tossed about with no order. His parents would never let him leave the house if he left his room in such a state.

"Something came up yesterday," Danny explained with a shrug of one shoulder. "But today was clear."

"Great!" Elle grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him into her room. "I'm in desperate need of some help. Thanks for bringing him up, Carmina."

"Ah, but Miss-" Carmina's protest was cut off when Elle closed the door on her.

"Servants aren't allowed to come in without my permission," Elle explained with a bright smile as she strolled over then dropped onto the foot of her bed. Her king sized, four poster bed. "So she can't come in here and bother us."

Danny lifted an eyebrow as he moved farther into the room. "And that's not going to be any problem with your parents? Having an older man, alone, in your room?"

Elle shrugged, kicking her feet lightly. "I can deal with my father. And anyway," she sent him a cheeky smirk, "you're not exactly my type."

Danny's mouth pursed slightly, feeling mildly insulted by her comment. Though he couldn't say she was exactly his type either, it still stung to have it stated so bluntly. "So where do you want to start?" His gaze drifted around the room, taking in the full extent of the messiness. It could have looked like the room of a princess with the delicately crafted white vanity and fancy molding on the ceiling if it weren't for everything thrown about haphazardly. Elle had tons of music posters slapped upon the wall in a chaotic mess, some hanging at odd angles and covering each other. He spotted a Dumpty Humpty poster, like the one hanging on the wall in his own room.

One poster stuck out to him, and he thought it must be the newest one to her collection because it was on top of a bunch of other posters. It showed a woman with alabaster skin posing with a purple guitar. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and the bright blue of it matched with the flames decorating her guitar. Dark makeup lined her green eyes with black lines curling down from the corners of her eyes.

Elle must have followed his gaze because she said, "Oh, you like it? That's Ember. She has about one more strike before the principal gets fed up and expels her from our school. She has a band that's been trying to hit it big. Sometimes we jam together."

"Jam together?" Danny repeated, blinking in surprise at Elle.

"Yeah!" Elle wore a big grin, but it twisted into an unpleasant expression. "My dad wants me to take over his company one day." She made a gagging motion, opening her mouth and sticking a finger into it. "No thanks!" She hopped onto her bed and struck a pose. One arms shot into the air reaching for the ceiling. Her other hand curled like she held some invisible object, and she lifted it close to her mouth. "I wanna rock! Have a sea of people out before me, cheering me on as I sing." She sighed as she dropped her hand, her body seeming to deflate. "But my dad thinks it's too unstable a career path and I should think about something more stable and secure."

Danny could understand the disappointment of having people tell him he should consider a different job than the one he had dreamed about since he was little. For as long as he could remember, becoming an astronaut was all he ever wanted. He went to space camp, he read up on everything he could find about space exploration, but with such a small chance of actually being chosen to become an astronaut, his dream seemed virtually impossible to achieve. It hurt like a knife digging into his heart. It was worse than the feeling of being zapped a million times by bolts of electricity to have a dream constantly out of his reach.

"Well, your dad doesn't know everything," Danny said with a shrug. "Maybe you will make it big. Five years from now, I could be buying your album and telling everyone around me that I met you before you became famous."

"Maybe I should give you my autograph now then," Elle said with a laugh as she jumped down from the bed. "First autograph. That's gotta sell big."

"Who said I would sell it?" Danny smirked. "But on the off chance things don't work out, wouldn't it be good to have a backup career in mind?"

"And I suppose you have a backup career in mind for yourself?"

"Actually, I-" Danny groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm sounding like my sister. How did that happen? I'm not supposed to be the one talking about responsibility and preparing for the future."

Elle patted him on the back, but the comfort was ruined by her laughing. "Okay. We should get started. I was thinking, thirty dollars an hour would be a fair payment."

Danny's mouth dropped open, but he stopped himself from complaining. He had the feeling this tutoring arrangement wouldn't last for long, and if her house looked like a castle, thirty dollars an hour probably seemed like chump change to her. "If you think that's an appropriate amount." He tried to keep from sounding overly excited about the money.

"Great! Then if that's decided, let's get to work." Elle grabbed her books and tablet then dropped onto the floor, spreading them around her. Her desk was completely covered with magazines and CDs, hardly the best place for her to try to get some studying done. The floor, at least, had some open space where they could work without being crowded by the mess in the room.

Danny didn't mind the floor, sitting down across from Elle as she opened one thick textbook to her homework. He looked over the different units she was working on in her various classes. Business wasn't something he knew a lot about, the same holding true for economics. While he got shoved into physics, not his favorite, he knew chemistry far better, and the units Elle was studying were ones he knew quite a bit about already. Computer science, though Tucker was a lot better at it, and engineering were right up his alley. He even spotted an astrophysics book buried among the rest and lifted his eyebrow at it.

"You take all of these?" Danny's mind boggled at the idea of taking all those classes at once.

"My dad is very insistent that I learn everything I need to know so I can take over the business when I'm older." Elle sighed tiredly with misery written clearly on her face. She didn't want to take any of these classes or even run her father's company in the future. Danny's parents encouraged him to pursue whatever career he wanted, one that would make him happy. He couldn't imagine the pressure of being forced into a career he would hate.

They talked about some stuff while Danny tried to help her understand everything for her homework. Elle showed interest when he talked about space, but Danny managed to stop himself with heat creeping onto his cheeks when he realized he was rambling. Then he considered the idea that Elle wasn't interested in space at all but thought getting him to talk about it would distract him from the tutoring. After that, he paid more attention to keep the conversation from being sidetracked away from Elle's assignments for school.

When he heard a loud growl, Danny flushed darkly with embarrassment. "Ah," he tried to think of something to say while Elle bit her lip to hold back a snicker.

"Come on." Elle stood, grabbing hold of his hands to drag Danny to his feet. "I think I can convince Sasha to fix us a snack, but we'll have to eat downstairs." Her expression turned rather serious as she said, "No food upstairs. None. Zilch. Nada. You take food upstairs and I'll take my wooden spoon to that derriere of yours."

Danny chuckled at her impersonation, and Elle grinned impishly, like she broke that rule more than once in the past. He picked up the tablet then followed her out of the room. As they walked down to the kitchen, he flipped through Elle's work on the tablet, going over the homework she had done under his tutoring.

"Hm, you've miscalculated the answer on this one," Danny said, pointing out the answer he meant on the tablet as he showed it to her.

Elle groaned. "Equations!" She threw up her hands in exasperation. "I don't understand how you speed through them like they're nothing. I have to spend about an hour on each one."

"The speed doesn't matter." Danny shook his head as they walked into the kitchen from where a delicious aroma wafted. "If you rush, you're more likely to make mistakes. It's more important to take your time and work through it carefully." He laughed to himself, rubbing his forehead. He couldn't believe he was sounding so much like Jazz.

"But it's just so long and boring." Elle sighed dramatically then her attention shifted to the woman working at the stove. "Sasha!" She skipped over and hugged the short, stout cook.

Sasha turned her head, giving Elle a firm stare. "You want something."

"Just some snacks." Elle smiled innocently. "All this studying sure works up an appetite."

Sasha's mouth stretched into a wide, flat line across her frog like face. "Go sit in the front room. I'll bring something out in a few minutes."

"We can continue working on your homework." Danny grinned, holding up the tablet with a little wave.

"I regret asking you to be my tutor already." Elle scowled at him, but it didn't hold any venom. She was joking, but Danny knew she didn't enjoy hours of homework anymore than he did.

They left the kitchen and entered the front room off to the right of the hall. Danny almost feared sitting down on the nice white couch because seeing the fancy furniture looking like it could have come straight from a royal castle made him feel like he was covered in dirt and grime and unworthy to even glance at it, let alone touch it. He couldn't imagine growing up in a place like this where there were so much expensive furniture and breakable antiques. He sat down gingerly on the couch and handed the tablet over to Elle.

A few minutes later, Sasha entered the room with a platter of finger sandwiches cut into perfect little triangles with the crust cut off. Danny reached out and picked one up after the cook had left the room. It had some sort of creamy paste spread between the two slices of bread, and he couldn't quite pick out the flavoring but found it delicious anyway.

"Is that right?" Elle's brow creased thickly in concentration as she turned around the tablet to show Danny her work.

Danny took the tablet to look over her work. With his focus on the equations, he missed hearing the creak of the front door opening. Or the footsteps in the front hall until someone cleared their throat. He lifted his gaze to the doorway, and the tablet nearly fell from his grasp. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he stared at the man in his fancy suit with his silvery hair tied neatly back in a ponytail.

"Snacking when we're about to have dinner?" The man frowned in disapproval, and it took Danny a moment to realize the man was actually talking to Elle and not him. Danny snapped his head around toward Elle, who was staring down at the half eaten sandwich in her hand. The look on her face said another pound of disappointing her father was thrown onto her shoulders.

"It was just a snack," Elle mumbled. "We were studying since one. We got hungry."

"Studying?" repeated the man, sounding like he didn't quite believe it. Then his gaze turned onto Danny, who sat up straighter under the scrutinizing blue eyes. "And you are?"

Danny swallowed, forcing down the lump in his throat. He almost forgot his name after realizing he was in the home of _the_ Vlad Masters, president of Axion Labs. As Mr. Masters lifted his eyebrows, Danny realized he was looking ridiculous in front possibly the richest man in Amity Park, next to Sam's parents. They were sort of neck and neck on being richest.

"Danny," he finally managed to say in a voice that didn't completely crack like he was still going through puberty. "Danny Fenton."

Mr. Masters' brow creased slightly before a smile cut across his face. "Will you be staying for dinner, Daniel?"

Danny resisted the urge to shudder. He hated when people called him Daniel. It always gave him the feeling of being in trouble. "Ah, no, Sir. I should probably be heading home soon."

"Are you certain? We have plenty of room, and it wouldn't be hard for our chef to prepare an extra plate."

It was really tempting to stay. Why wouldn't he want to share a meal with _Vlad Masters_? It would give him the chance to pick the man's brain! He could ask about the space exploration projects he missed out on seeing because the tour of Axion Labs was cut short for him. "Well-"

"Dad, don't be embarrassing!" Elle complained, her cheeks turning rosy pink. "He's probably expected at home to have dinner with his family."

Mr. Masters frowned at his daughter, and Danny suffered another moment of utter disbelief. The news never mentioned much about the billionaire having a daughter, but perhaps Mr. Masters liked to keep that information quiet for the sake of keeping his daughter out of the media spotlight. Danny could understand why Mr. Masters would want to do that. It couldn't be easy for Elle being the daughter of such a famous billionaire. Sam had tried to keep her family's fortune secret from him and Tucker when they were younger, but it was impossible to hide her family's identity from them forever.

"I'm sorry." Mr. Masters didn't sound sorry at all. "Have I interrupted something? Am I ruining your date?"

"It's not a date!" Elle argued, and her cheeks darkened. Danny could feel his own face warm with a blush. "He's my tutor! I met him at that benefit the Mansons held. Since he was so good at solving the equations, I thought he would be a good teacher."

Mr. Masters turned his gaze onto Danny, and one eyebrow arched upward curiously. "Oh? And has he taught you anything? I would hate to waste money on another tutor only to see your grades haven't improved at all."

"Ugh! Dad!" Elle puffed out her cheeks like a child pouting when she didn't get her way. "Yes! He's helped me a lot. I actually feel like I understood half of what he said. Unlike the others who were better off talking Greek since I couldn't stand _anything_ they said."

"Uh, maybe I should just," Danny interrupted awkwardly, "go now. It's getting pretty late after all. My parents would want me home before dinner."

"Ah, yes." Mr. Masters nodded. "We shouldn't keep you then. How much do we owe for taking up your time?"

"Well, we agree to thirty dollars an hour, and we started around one." Danny glanced at his watch. "So for five hours, that would be a hundred and fifty dollars."

Mr. Masters pulled the money out of his wallet and handed it over to Danny, who almost couldn't believe the man carried so much money on him.

"I'll text you about our next tutoring session," Elle said, walking him toward the door. Danny didn't miss that her father remained standing the hall, watching them with his sharp dark blue eyes.

"Okay," Danny said with a jerky nod as he stepped out onto the front step. "I'll see you later then." Elle nodded agreement, and they waved before Danny turned down the long drive to the front gate. He dropped his gaze to the money in his hand as he walked. Maybe he would be able to pay for that dry cleaning bill after all. He frowned. But would Valerie try to milk more out of him if he simply paid her off? With a tired sigh, he stuffed the money into his pocket.


	12. Chapter 12

"Where were you yesterday?" Sam questioned as they walked through the school hall toward their lockers. Immediately after Danny got out of his sister's car, his friends swooped in, grabbing hold of his arms and dragging him away to talk in private. Jazz gave them a confused but concerned look as she watched them leave.

"I made plans to do that tutoring thing over the weekend," Danny explained and spun the combination lock in the right order to open his locker. "Elle called me on Friday saying she was free and to come over sometime to start having tutoring sessions. Since Saturday," he stared pointedly at his friends, "obviously had reasons for why that couldn't work. I went over to her place yesterday."

"Wait. Wait." Tucker held up his hands. "Who is this Elle? And why haven't I met her?"

"Because she doesn't need you hitting on her," Sam commented offhandedly.

"Hey!" Tucker protested, gasping with a hurt expression on his face. "I don't hit on _every_ woman I see." He frowned when Danny and Sam exchanged glances. "Okay. Maybe I do. But one of these days, the ladies are going to be all over the Tuck man." He grinned as he leaned back against the lockers, trying to look cool.

Danny rolled his eyes as he stuffed a book into his bag. "You could have met Elle if you went to the benefit with us." He gave Tucker a falsely sympathetic look. "Oh, but you had your robotics club to attend." He laughed when Tucker punched his shoulder. "Is your entry of the contest finished?"

"We're almost there. Still a few more kinks to work out." Exhaustion swept across Tucker's face, like the long days working on their robot was taking its toll upon him. But he looked happy, like all the hard work would be worth it in the end.

"Oh, hey!" Danny remembered something now that the topic of robots was brought up. After everything that happened to him on Friday and the training on Saturday, some parts of the field trip had slipped his mind. "I saw your robotics teacher at Axion Labs."

"Mr. Technus?" Tucker blinked then shrugged. "Yeah, he does some contract work with them. He's among the top geniuses when it comes to robotics, even if he decided to become a science teacher. Why, I'll never understand. Being a teacher doesn't earn him a big income. Definitely not as much as he would get actually working for Axion Labs. But he's only allowed to offer us advice with our contest entry. No developing any of the robot plans for him. He has some free periods on Friday, so he sometimes heads over to Axion Labs to offer them some help on projects."

Robot talk hardly interested Sam, but her violet eyes darted around the crowded hall like they were talking about plans for world domination. Then she leaned in close to whisper to her friends. "When do you think your parents will be out so we can sneak into the lab and run some tests?"

Danny closed his locker and scratched behind one ear. "I don't know," he admitted with a frown. "My parents sometime go out to meetings, which would give us a few hours to work with if we can get Jazz to leave the house. But it's not like they do that every night. I'll give you a call when the house is free."

"You know, I was thinking," Tucker said as they left their lockers behind after getting what they needed. "The usual spot probably isn't the best place to, you know." He glanced around cautiously. Too many students meandered around the hall waiting for classes to start, but no one seemed to be paying them any attention. "Maybe we should find some place a little more comfortable, and you know, has snacks."

"I'm going to agree with that simply because last time was exhausting and the drain really made me hungry," Danny said. They would need someplace where he could test out his abilities and learn control in private without risk of being discovered. Though the abandoned house gave them privacy, it was lacking in basically everything else like food and comfortable places to sit and relax. And most importantly, it had no heating, which wouldn't be fun for any of them once the wintery weather fully hit Amity Park. So the question was: Where could they go instead of the abandoned house?

Sam's mouth pursed thoughtfully. "My parents do own quite a few places around town. Some are just used for storage. We could probably use one of those every once and a while. I'm sure I could convince some of the guards to let us hang out there."

"And they won't ask questions?" Danny raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Sam shrugged, not seeming concerned by the question. "We could tell them we need the space to work on a project of some sort. They probably won't ask too many questions if I'm the one asking. After all, I am the daughter of their boss."

"You know," Tucker frowned, "you can be kind of scary." Sam merely shrugged off the comment.

"Speaking of your parents though, did they find out anything about the robbery?" Danny had put his focus into tutoring Elle yesterday, but now the topic of the robbery forced its way back to the front of his mind.

Sam shook her head. "My parents still won't tell me anything about what happened. Or if they've even figured out what was stolen. But they're really angry about it. They think the police aren't working hard enough since the thief hasn't been found yet." The first bell of the day rang before they could say anything more.

After they parted ways, Danny headed toward his first period class. Remembering the last time he saw the jock, he felt a mixture of dread and confusion as he entered the room. Dash actually being nice to him was still a strange experience, yet Danny wished Dash could put aside whatever made the jock hate him because not getting bullied was a nice change. But as Danny expected, Dash made a move to harass him the moment he got close to the jock. A chill tingled down his spine, and Danny managed to sidestep before the stuck out foot could trip him. They stared at each other for several long moments, both of them surprised.

"Uh," Danny laughed weakly, "still trying the same old moves? Maybe you should try something a little more original."

Dash narrowed his eyes as he got up from his desk. He stood taller than Danny with a much broader frame, and Danny shrank back a little under the glower. "Trying to be the funny guy now?" The jock jabbed a finger into Danny's chest, and a murmured followed as the other students in the classroom took notice of them. "Because," Dash grabbed hold of the front of Danny's hooded sweatshirt, "I don't like funny guys." His eyes flicked toward the shoulder Danny injured on Friday, like he was trying to subtly, silently ask if it was okay.

Danny gave the tiniest jerk of his head, a nod to say his shoulder was fine. It was an odd little exchange that the rest of the class probably missed. Danny could almost sense this subtle shift in their relationship. Dash still saw him as a loser who deserved to be bullied, but Danny thought there was this sort of underlying respect.

"Mr. Baxter, Mr. Fenton, is there a problem?" Mr. Green questioned, the severity in his voice making the two students immediately back away from each other.

"No, Sir," Dash replied quickly as he took his seat again.

"Good." Mr. Green glared coldly at them. "I would hate to have Coach Slater bench you at the big game because you had detention."

When Dash shot him and glare, Danny sighed inwardly. "No, Mr. Green," he said, sliding into his seat next to Dash. "We were just talking. About homework." He didn't think the teacher believed him, but Mr. Green decided to put it aside for the time being and begin class.

Dash didn't harass him for the rest of the period, perhaps because of the threat of detention hanging over him. Danny had little hope that Dash was cutting him some slack just because of what happened on the field trip, or that it would last. But he was still thankful when class ended and he could escape the scowling glare of their teacher. Mr. Green, for whatever reason, seemed to hate all of his students, though his wrath was usually focused on Dash and Danny.

When he walked the hall between classes, Danny caught Valerie's eye and dread settled over him. Her green eyes seemed to be saying, "If you don't do what I want, I'll make your life hell." But with such little time between classes and a sea of students between them, Valerie couldn't get close enough to him to do anything to him. Danny wasn't so lucky by the time lunch rolled around and found Valerie waiting for him. She grabbed him and pulled down a hall until they were well away and out of sight from the crowd of students heading toward the cafeteria.

"The water thing was cute," Valerie said, folding her arms and looking clearly unimpressed. "But hardly worthy enough to do any real damage to Paulina's reputation. And I guess I can't blame you for not doing anything Friday since you had that stupid field trip. The question now is: what are you going to do today? It better be something good."

"You know what, Valerie?" Danny shoved his hand into his pocket to grab his wallet. "I'm not doing this. I lose no matter what I do. I do what you want, and Dash will kill me. I don't do what you want, and you make my life miserable. Nothing good comes out of this." He pulled out the money he received yesterday for his time tutoring Elle. "It's not the full amount, but if you give me some time, I can make the money to pay off the dry cleaning bill. That's all I owe you for, so after that, I'm done." He thrust the money at her.

Valerie took the money from his hand, examining it was a critical eye almost like she expected it was fake. "You didn't rob a store or something for this, did you?"

"No!" Danny snapped, offended by the suggestion as he glared. "I _earned_ it." He doubted Valerie ever had to earn a cent in her life, not when she had daddy to buy everything for her. And occasionally bullying money out of losers.

Valerie frowned for a moment longer at the money then shoved it into her pocket. "But speaking of robberies," she said, her eyes turning cruel, and she stabbed her finger into his chest, "tell your girlfriend to get her parents off my dad's back. He can't do his job with them breathing down his neck. He's the _police chief_. He has more to do than deal with a bunch of whiny rich babies."

"Hey! Whoa!" Danny held up his hands. "Sam is _not_ my girlfriend. We're just friends." It was tiring to repeat that comment over and over again. "And what exactly do you expect to happen if I did ask that of Sam? Her parents aren't going listen to her about anything when it comes to their company."

"Well, figure some-"

"There you are, Val!" Coming down the hall like a cheerful Labrador bounding over to meet his owner, Kwan wore his usual friendly grin. "Paulina was looking for you. Something about wanting to go over things for Friday's pep rally."

"I forgot about that." Valerie huffed, annoyance flashing in her eyes. "I expect the rest of it later, Fenton." After she gave him one last chilly glare, she turned and walked down the hall.

Kwan watched her leave then glanced at Danny with a lift of one eyebrow. "What was all that about?"

Danny released a shaky laugh as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "You are like some freaky angry A List whisperer, you know that? Whenever any of them start harassing anyone, you can pretty much say just one word, and they back down."

Kwan frowned, his aqua green eyes turned away. "But really," he said after a beat of silence, "what did Valerie want from you?"

Danny shrugged as he strolled down the hall, and Kwan followed, easily keeping in step with him. "I ruined her dress at the benefit last week." Even though he was a jock, Kwan just seemed to radiate this aura that made a person want to confide in him. Danny felt more at ease telling the story to Kwan than to Dash. "So she gave me the choice: either I help her rise to the top of the social pyramid by humiliating the top tier of A List girls or I pay her dry cleaning bill."

"Ah." Kwan nodded. "That explains the water show on Thursday." When he glanced at Danny, Kwan's expression was sympathetic. "Things haven't always been easy for Val. No, I'm serious," he added after catching the look of disbelief from Danny. "Val and I have been friends since forever. Longer than I've been friends with Dash. But we haven't always been in the popular crowd. We didn't get accepted until Dash decided we were cool enough to hang out with." For a moment, he looked like he might say more, but he merely shook his head instead. "My point is we only got in the A List because of Dash, and it's only because of him that we haven't been kicked out yet."

Danny snorted. "Are you trying to say Dash actually has a heart and cares about people?"

With a severe frown, Kwan halted, grabbing hold of Danny's arm to make him stop too. "Dash doesn't like to show it to people who aren't close to him, but he does have a good heart."

Danny frowned, shifting uncomfortably. He remembered how Dash acted after things went crazy in Axion Labs. His hand reached around to the back of his neck, fingers brushing over the scar that remained there. Dash could have acted like a complete jerk and ignored Danny's injury. Instead, the jock had cleaned up the cut and bandaged it. He even showed the slightest hint of concern today in class while not drawing any attention to it. Maybe Dash _did_ have something under all that tough exterior, and for whatever reason, he decided to show Danny a peek of it.

"He sure likes to keep it hidden," Danny said, trying to joke it off, but Kwan's expression remain flat and not amused.

"High school is filled with people judging others without knowing the first thing about them." Kwan sighed as he reached up and raked a hand through his hair. "Dash may act like a complete jerk, but a single label doesn't define everything about him. After all, aren't you more than what the loser label says you are?"

"I guess." Danny scratched at the back of his head with a frown. "But Dash makes it _really_ easy to only see him as a jerk."

Kwan laughed and slapped Danny on the shoulder. "Okay. I'll give you that. But there really is more to him than that." His hand remained on Danny's shoulder as he leaned closer. "And I'll try to talk to Val about not extorting money from you again. But I can't promise anything."

"Uh, sure. Thanks," Danny said, and Kwan responded with a grin. After a quick pat on the shoulder, Kwan walked down the hall by himself, whistling as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his letterman jacket. Danny watched for a few moments then shook his head before he walked toward the cafeteria for lunch.


	13. Chapter 13

Danny tapped his pencil against the page where he was writing notes. Sam thought, if she could find a decent storage warehouse owned by her parents, they could try to have a training session on Friday and sometime over the weekend. Elle had texted him during lunch, sending a picture of a pop quiz on which she scored an eighty-six. She was excited about the score and said if it wasn't for him tutoring her on Sunday, she would have failed the quiz for sure. They discussed future tutoring sessions, and Elle definitely wanted to have one this Thursday because she had a big test on Friday she wanted his help to prepare for.

He frowned slightly as he glanced over the schedule of days for practicing his powers and tutoring Elle. If he wasn't careful, he would end up overwhelming himself between the two activities and leave no time for his own studying. _I can do this_ , he told himself, _if I cut down on some of my video game playing_. His mouth pursed a bit tighter as he glared at the words on the page in his notebook. _When did Jazz's responsibility start rubbing off on me?_ He sighed as he rested his chin in one hand. Jazz would probably be proud of him, but Danny was definitely not going to tell her anything about it.

The bell rang, jerking him out of his thoughts. Danny flipped his notebook shut and packed up his things while the rest of the class hurried to rush out of their final class. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he stood to follow after his classmates. He had no plans for the rest of his day. Elle didn't need to see him until Thursday. Tucker was busy, again, with the robot club. Sam wanted to hang out at the Skulk and Lurk to check out the new shipment of books.

_Well, a little game play today wouldn't hurt anything_ , Danny thought with a small smile. If he had to be responsible and manage his time better with the new activities, then he decided he would get in some major game play before he had to act like some stuffy, boring adult. He was just about to set foot outside the door when the clearing of a throat made him stop with a cringe. Danny turned around, shoulders hunching as he prepared for a scolding.

"Yes, Mr. Lancer?" he said, scrambling through his memories for a reason why his teacher would want to talk to him. He had gotten all his homework done on time before the field trip as promised!

Lancer leaned against his desk, folding his arms, and they practically rested on top of his potbelly. "I was happy to see you managed to finish all your work prior to the field trip last Friday." A proud smile graced the teacher's face, and Danny felt a moment of relief before Lancer's expression darkened, the smile wiping clean away. "But I heard from Mr. Green about a little incident that happened during the field trip."

Danny blanched, and that tingling about to turn intangible feeling crept up his legs. This was not a good time for his power to act up! Lancer was staring right at him and would definitely notice if he sank through the floor. Danny focused on keeping his body completely solid. He should have known Mr. Green would talk about the whole incident at Axion Labs to the other teachers! Though it still surprised him the teacher didn't call his parents about the incident. Maybe Lancer had something to do with that.

"That was, um-" Danny rubbed at the back of his neck, unable to meet his teacher's gaze. Why did he only have intangibility? He would give anything to turn invisible right now to avoid Lancer's disapproval.

"I think I have a pretty good guess of what happened." Lancer's mouth pressed thin. "Dash was picking on you again."

"Yes, well, no, I mean-" Danny sighed as he reached up and raked a hand through his hair. "He was picking on someone else, and I called him out on it. Then," he made awkward gestures with his hands, "things just happened."

Lancer nodded, understanding passing through his eyes. "As a teacher, I shouldn't advocate violence to solve your problems."

"He's the one that attacked me!" Danny argued, and with his rising anger, he could feel the shift, his eyes wanting to take on the glowing green. He crushed down the anger, forcing his eyes to remain their normal bright blue. If he couldn't get a handle of this strange new power he had, he wouldn't be able to keep it secret for too long, especially if it was so easily triggered by anger.

Lancer pushed away from the desk and walk over to him. "Danny," he placed a hand upon his student's shoulder, holding Danny's gaze with his own, "I remember exactly what it's like to be a high school student being bullied by the more popular crowd. I know it's not easy, but I also believe you can overcome this. Unfortunately, since I was not there to witness anything, I can't punish Dash for what happened."

"Well, I really wasn't trying to get him in trouble or anything." Danny shifted awkwardly. "Besides if he can't play in the game Friday, we'll pretty much get murdered by our rivals."

"Sports aren't everything."

"No," Danny agreed, frowning, "I know they aren't. But the whole school is counting on him for a victory. That's got to be a lot of pressure on him."

"I imagine that would be a lot of pressure." Lancer nodded, but his mouth pursed slightly. "Still, that is no excuse for harassing other students. He would do well to find another outlet for that aggression of his."

Danny wasn't sure what to say in response so he merely bobbed his head. "Ah, well," he glanced toward the door, "I should probably head home. You know, lots of homework to keep busy with."

"Oh?" An amused smirk twitched at Lancer's mouth. "And here I thought you wanted to run off and play video games."

Danny winced. "Okay. You caught me. But I promise it's only to relax for a little while. Then it's all about the homework."

Lancer's stare was stern, but he let up after a moment. "As long as you don't slack off on your homework."

"Right. No slacking off from me, Sir!" Danny saluted then had to grin when Lancer shook his head, fighting back a laugh at his student's silliness. "See you tomorrow!" With a wave, he left the classroom and headed down the hall toward his locker. His sister stood waiting by his locker as she hugged a thick textbook to her chest. "Just let me grab some books. Then we can head home."

"Actually, I have a thing I need to do," Jazz said, wincing apologetically. "You know, tutoring, helping with the debate team."

Danny rolled his eyes as he opened his locker. "Never a downtime for the amazing Jasmine Fenton." He chuckled when Jazz shoved him. "Well, don't let me keep you waiting. Go on." He shooed her away with one hand. "Do your boring responsible adult things. I'm just gonna go home and continue being an immature kid."

Jazz huffed a sigh and frowned at him. "Just be sure to get your homework done sometime while you're being an immature kid." She reached over and flicked him playfully on the forehead. "I'll see you at dinner."

Danny grabbed the rest of his things and closed the locker. After saying their goodbyes, they parted ways, Jazz going off to do her tutoring and other stuff while Danny headed out the front entrance of the school. Once he was down the steps to the school, he dropped his skateboard to the ground. Most of the upperclassmen had cars, or friends with cars, so they all hung out in the back of the school where the parking lot was. The students that came out the front of the school either walked home or milled around waiting on buses. He skated past all of them and down the street toward his house.

Danny made it to the end of the block and slowed to a stop when he realized someone had placed herself right in front of his way. A wary frown crossed his face, and he glanced around, but they were far enough away from the school to go unnoticed by the other students. He turned back to the woman, feeling hesitant about this encounter.

"Look," he said as she folded her arms and glared with cold green eyes. "I gave you all the money I have at the moment. I don't have another tutoring session until Thursday. Friday is the soonest I can get you anymore money."

"Well, I would have liked it sooner," Valerie said then pressed her fingers to her forehead as she shook her head. "Kwan was really mad at me for what I did. And since he's my best friend, I don't really want him not talking to me because of this."

"So," Danny said, drawing out the word as he glanced around cautiously, almost expecting this to be a trap, "you're saying what exactly?"

Valerie huffed like she couldn't believe Danny was this stupid. "I'm saying that I'm sorry," she ground out the word after some effort, "for extorting money out of you and forcing you to embarrass Paulina. I shouldn't have done that." She added in a mutter, "According to Kwan."

"Uh, thanks. I guess." Danny stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt. This was about as odd a situation as having Dash act nice to him.

"Yeah," Valerie said harshly before grumbling, "well, you should thank Kwan really. He thinks after-" Her mouth pressed thin. "Well, he thinks I need to learn to lighten up some and let the little things go."

"Hey, I know what it's like to want to be popular." Danny shrugged. "I think pretty much everyone who isn't on the A List has wanted to find some way to get in with the rest of you. That's why I did all those embarrassing things. I just wanted to be liked by the rest of you. So I get wanting to keep your place." He felt like there was a story Valerie and Kwan had almost told him, but the pair bottled up in the end. "I promise no more of those fancy benefits for me, so you won't have to worry about me ruining another dress."

"Good. I would hate to have to kick your butt next time." Valerie smirked with such confident that Danny thought maybe she wasn't lying. She glanced at her watch, checking the time. "I should go. Kwan's waiting on me to drive me home. He said he would only wait for me if I promised to make peace with you. But don't think I'm going to be all nice to you from now on or anything."

"Of course," Danny agreed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Dash had said the same thing after the incident at Axion Labs. Valerie didn't even bother to say goodbye. She merely walked off, heading back toward the high school. Danny scratched a hand through his hair. "Okay. This has been a weird day," he mumbled to himself. Then with a shake of his head, he continued skating his way home. On the bright side, he hadn't slipped up and revealed his strange new powers to anyone during school.

_Maybe I should get something for Kwan as a thank you_ , Danny thought as he neared his house. Kwan had stepped in dozens of times to defuse the situation whenever an A Lister was harassing not only him but others labeled as a loser. But what exactly did he get for a popular jock that he barely knew anything about? Saying a simple thank you felt kind of underwhelming compared to all the times Kwan saved him from getting beaten up.

When he reached his house, Danny bent over to scoop up his skateboard then entered through the front door. He leaned the skateboard against the wall in the front hall. A foul burnt smell came from the kitchen, and Danny followed it uncertainly, not sure he wanted to know what his parents were overcooking now. When he peered into the kitchen, he found his father trying to air out the smoke billowing from a pan in the sink.

"Do I want to ask?" Danny ventured cautiously.

"Ah! Danny!" His father turned toward him, grinning widely. His gaze dropped to the smoking pan, and he winced with a weak laugh. "I was making a snack and, well, got distracted with a project." He twirled his index fingers around each other like a child trying to explain to a grumpy parent about to yell at him, which made for an odd image in Danny's head.

"Mom's going to ban you from the kitchen if you end up burning down the house," Danny warned as he walked over to the sink. The pan had a layer of black sticky goop glued to it. "Though she might ban you for ruining all her pans first."

"I guess this one is beyond salvaging." His father frowned as he pulled the pan out of the sink. "But this can be our little secret." He grinned, and Danny worried about what was on his father's mind. "I have a few extra pans hidden away in the closet for occasions just like this. We dump this one in the trash, break out a new one, and Maddie will be none the wiser."

Danny suspected that wasn't entirely true. Many people believed his parents were completely oblivious to virtually everything beyond their research, but they could be annoyingly observant at times. Danny wouldn't be surprised if his mother had already caught on to her husband's little pan swap when he accidentally ruined them. He decided to keep quiet about his suspicions. Why burst his father's bubble?

"Well, I won't say anything if you don't tell Mom about me sneaking ice cream before dinner." Danny walked over to the refrigerator to grab a tub of Rocky Road ice cream.

"No tutoring tonight?" His father lifted a curious eyebrow.

Danny glanced over his shoulder as he dumped a scoop of the ice cream into a bowl. "Ah, no, Elle decided our next session will be on Thursday." He smiled, recalling her excited text with all the exclamation points and cap locks. After popping the top back onto the tub of ice cream, he returned it to the freezer. "But some of the stuff she's studying looks pretty advanced." His smile faded into a frown as he remembered looking over some of her textbooks. "I don't know that I'll be much help to her for long."

"You can't think like that!" His father slapped him on the back, hard, and Danny nearly dropped the ice cream scooper he was rinsing off. "Fentons are problem solvers, inventors, geniuses! I'm sure no matter what you come up against, you'll figure out a way to solve it and help her." Sometimes, his father could be a little too optimistic about everything, but Danny couldn't help but appreciate the way his father tried to cheer him up.

"So how do you explain Jazz's love of psychology?" Danny lifted his eyebrows curiously as he put a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.

His father scratched at his head, his brow creasing in deep concentration as he searched for an answer. "Ah!" He snapped his fingers and grinned in success. "Psychologists help people with their mental problems. That's a form of fixing things. Problem solving. It's in the Fenton DNA." His father puffed out his chest proudly.

"Okay. You win that argument." Danny laughed as he pushed away from the counter. "You better take care of that pan before Mom comes up from the lab and sees it." He headed into the front room eager for some downtime playing video games before having to do his homework. He chuckled when his father yelped as he remembered the ruined pan and hurried to dispose of the evidence.


	14. Chapter 14

"You know, I'm not sure this is an entirely good idea." Tucker's mouth pulled in a tight frown as Sam parked her car in the school lot. "Danny still hasn't fully gotten a handle on his," he gestured awkwardly with his hands, "intangibility thing. And we're going to be surrounded by _a lot_ of people. I'm pretty sure not everyone is going to be completely oblivious. Someone might take notice if Danny falls _through_ the bleachers."

"That's not going to happen." Danny shook his head as he opened the door. "Besides everyone is going to be paying attention to the football game. They'll never notice if a loser like me suddenly vanishes because I fell through the bleachers."

"You have had some pretty close calls this week though," Sam said, sharing in Tucker's concern. "You're lucky no one noticed when you practically walked through the vending machine."

She had a point, and Danny winced, recalling the incident from Tuesday. They were walking through the hall, like usual, talking to each other, but Danny hadn't even noticed the vending machine until both Tucker and Sam grabbed hold of him and yanked him out of it. He though he was getting better at sensing when his body shifted to intangible, but some occasions still caught him by surprise. He had several minor incidents like that throughout the week, even denting his locker on accident when he didn't think about his strength as he slammed it shut. Mr. Green looked about ready to grab him by the ear and drag him straight to the principal's office, maybe even order his expulsion for damaging school property, if Lancer hadn't quickly intervened and dealt with the situation himself. Danny got off with a warning and had to promise to be more careful in the future.

Life at home wasn't exactly a walk in the park for him either. Trying to keep his secret from his family when he suffered minor hiccups with his powers had him walking on eggshells. At night, he felt drained from concentrating so much on keeping his powers controlled, and having his sister ask him if something was wrong. Sometimes he hated how observant his sister could be. His parents seemed to think he was just being a typical moody teenager, though Danny did catch some concerned looks from them. Maybe they weren't being as oblivious about it as he wished they would be.

Anger, apparently, wasn't the only trigger. His control slipped when he got nervous too. Which didn't help when he tutored Elle yesterday. The session went rather well, and he even had time to do some of his own homework while Elle worked out the answers for her own assignments. A few times, Danny actually had to research through Elle's textbook to get an understanding of what she was studying, but they managed to work things out together, which seemed to help Elle retain the information better. He almost couldn't believe how good it felt to help Elle with her homework, but he thought maybe he understood why Jazz was always reaching out to help people now.

The nervousness came when Elle's father returned home. Mr. Masters had quite the imposing aura about him. Danny kept having to remind himself to sit up straight in the man's presence, because Mr. Masters insisted he stay for dinner this time. Danny felt like it would be rude to turn down the invitation a second time. When he called to tell his parents he wouldn't be home for dinner, they told him to just be sure he was home before his curfew. Danny gulped, anxiety creeping through him. He had a chance to ask Mr. Masters about the projects at Axion Labs, but at the same time, he didn't want to look like a fool before the man.

"They still haven't found that missing sample," Mr. Masters said at one point during their dinner. Danny resisted the urge to reach up and touch the scar on the back of his neck at the mention of "sample." He remembered hearing one of the employees at Axion Labs say a sample was missing when he and Dash left the laboratory where the mechanical arm went crazy.

"Do you think it was the same people that broke into that place owned by the Manson family?" Elle asked, neither father nor daughter noticing the anxiety coming from their guest.

Mr. Masters shook his head. "No, those people would be foolish to try breaking into my company. And the sample went missing in the middle of the day. Sometime during that group of students were touring the company. I doubt a burglar would be that brave."

Luckily, shortly after the conversation, Mr. Masters had to take a phone conference, leaving Danny and Elle to finish their dinner alone before they returned to their tutoring session. But Danny kept thinking about the whole thing with the sample. If it had disappeared after the incident in the laboratory, then it would be his and Dash's fault it went missing. When the mechanical arm threw him against the wall, some of the glass equipment had shattered. The missing sample was likely among them. Danny was too scared of Mr. Masters to mention it though. What if Mr. Masters got angry and filed charges against him for destroying property and losing the sample? What if he decided Danny wasn't an appropriate tutor for his daughter anymore? So Danny kept silent about the incident.

"Okay," Danny said to his friends as they walked toward the football field. "I know I've had mishaps, but that's the whole reason we're doing the training session tomorrow now that Sam's found a place where we can practice comfortably and without anyone seeing. I think I can make it through one game without having an accident."

"So," Tucker frowned as he rubbed the back of his neck, "do you plan on telling your parents about this?"

Danny hunched his shoulders. He had basically a week since the accident to think over that particular question, and he still didn't have an answer for it. "I'm not sure. How would they even react if I told them about this? _I_ don't even really know what happened to me. Beyond, you know, I _should_ be dead. I just-" He sighed. "I think it's probably best to keep it quiet until I figure out what exactly that accident did to me. I think I would just feel better if I could tell them exactly what the whole thing did to me." His parents being the leading experts where ectoplasm is concerned, though, would probably have a better understanding of what the accident did to him. Danny couldn't wipe out the bit of fear gnawing at him when he thought about telling them the truth though.

They neared the entrance to the football field where two of their teachers was manning the ticket booth. Ms. Chikara had lovely bronze skin and sleek black hair that she kept at shoulder length. She was easily the prettiest of their female teachers, and next to someone like Ms. Tetslaff, it was no contest. Danny had witnessed plenty of the other men at their school drooling over the young teacher during class. Perhaps lucky for her, Ms. Chikara was working alongside Lancer, who would stop anyone who dared from harassing his fellow teacher.

"Good evening, you three," Ms. Chikara greeted with a pleasant smile while Lancer worked the other side of the ticket booth. He had a thick book resting beside him, which Danny guessed he would read once the crowd thinned and gave him the time to concentrated on his book. "Did you bring your IDs?"

All three friends pulled out their student ID cards to show Ms. Chikara. Once she saw them, the teacher allowed them to head through the gate. Danny knew it was silly, but it always made him feel like some sort of VIP. With a flash of his student ID card, he got into home games for free. At away games, it got him a discount on the ticket.

"Jazz didn't want to come with us?" Sam asked as they headed toward the Casper High side of the stands.

"She said she had something to do," Danny answered, scratching the back of his head. His sister usually came with them when they went to watch their team play. She would always say it looked good to colleges when she showed school spirit by attending various functions like sports games. "She wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked though."

At one point, Jazz said she had to tutor Molly. Then she told him she had some project for a club to finish. Danny frowned at the memory of their conversation before he left to come to the game with his friends. Was Jazz so overworked with school and activities that she couldn't keep them all straight? Danny hated to think Jazz might actually have lied to him. He was fairly certain Jazz didn't even know how to lie. But why, then, did she keep changing her story tonight? A headache bloomed as he thought on it, and he pressed the heel of his palm against one eye, trying to will back the dull ache.

Danny followed his friends up the steps of the stands until they found a decent spot among the sea of Casper High students and parents decked out to support their team. They worked their way through the crowd to an open section on the bleachers and sat down, ready to enjoy the game, which would kick off in a few minutes. Their seats were in the middle of the stands, giving them a fairly good view of the field, but they were also right in the heart of the cheering to come when their team scored a touchdown. Danny almost wished he had brought earmuffs to muffle the noise.

"Ugh, seriously?"

All three friends turned their heads to the right, Tucker and Sam having to lean forward to see around Danny. Valerie sat right next to Danny with her yellow coat zipped up tight to protect her against the chilly night air. She wore a sour expression as she glowered at the three friends like they were a stain on her perfectly pristine clothing. The red and white C with an H inside it representing the logo of Casper High was painted upon her brown cheeks, and she had a Casper High scarf wrapped around her neck.

"This was the only open spot," Danny said, frowning at the displeasure on the woman's face.

"I'm surprised you're not sitting with your A List friends," Sam said with a snort, and Danny was glad she sat on the far side, away from Valerie. Tucker and he played buffer between the two women.

"Because tonight is my dad's night off," Valerie answered, and the electricity in the air as the two women glared at each other had Danny shifting uncomfortably. "And he really likes sports, so I thought bringing him to a game would be a great way to spend our rare night together. I don't need you losers ruining it."

"Whoa!" Danny waved his hands between Valerie and Sam's glares, trying to defuse some of the tension as they drew some looks from the crowd surrounding them. "You probably don't want your dad seeing you fight with anyone from school." He was guessing, but he knew if Jazz or his parents were with him at the game, he wouldn't want his family witnessing him getting into trouble. "So let's just put differences aside and get along. I think we can manage to sit beside each other for just one game."

Valerie narrowed her eyes, but after a moment, she huffed a sigh. "Fine. Whatever. As long your girlfriend doesn't say anything."

"We're not a couple," Danny and Sam argued together.

"And," Sam continued, "I'm not the one always starting fights."

"That's not really helping," Tucker muttered. "So, Val-"

"Don't even try it." Valerie shot him down before Tucker even had the chance.

Danny patted his disappointed friend on the back. Neither of them had much luck in the relationship department. Danny, actually, felt a bit jaded about the whole thing after all the rejections he had. What was the rush anyway? They were still in high school. They had a lifetime ahead of them to fall in love, and get their hearts broken more than a few times.

"Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry."

Danny glanced past Valerie to see the familiar man making his way down the row toward them. Mr. Gray looked much the same as he did on television yet somehow completely different since he was out of uniform. But even Danny could see the bags under his eyes, which his glasses did little to hide. His work must keep him busy, even late into the night. Danny could see why Valerie didn't want anything to ruin this one night her father had to relax.

"That line at the concession stand was longer than I expected," Mr. Gray said as he sat down next to his daughter on the bleacher. "You still like it with relish and mustard, right?" He passed one of the hotdogs he held to Valerie, who nodded. The second hotdog seemed to be drowning in ketchup with a splash of mustard.

Danny's attention turned, like the rest of the crowd, when the two teams took the field, getting ready for the kick off. Their team was on a winning streak, and even though they were playing against the rivals, the Elmerson High Falcons, their odds of winning were good. Dash had an amazing arm, which only got better each year. Kwan, despite his kind nature, could tackle like nobody's business. Danny still felt like Kwan hadn't _meant_ to tackle him in the hall because he was certain the jock would have broken him if he tackled him on purpose. Liam had finally gotten over his butterfingers stage and could catch almost every ball tossed his way. Vincent had a way of weaving past opponents to make it to the end zone whenever he got the ball. But Elmerson High was still a tough team, and both teams would be fighting every step of the way, which meant they were in for a good game.

Cheers screamed from the crowd the moment the football flew through the air after the kick off. Danny yelled right alongside the rest of the Casper High students and family members as their team caught the ball and ran toward the end zone. But with Valerie and her father sitting right beside him, Danny was overly conscious of himself. Not only did he have to reign in his control to keep his powers in check, but he had to be careful not to do anything to upset Valerie, like accidentally bump into her while she ate her hotdog and spill the condiments all over her coat.

Their team managed to score the first goal, and their side of the stands erupted into loud cheers. Danny got to his feet with his friends, clapping and hollering. Mr. Gray was more subdued about his cheering but seemed happy and enjoyed the game. Valerie, Danny noted, mostly cheered for Kwan, like when he managed to tackle the other team's player to protect Dash so he could throw the ball down field to one of the other players. Danny wasn't sure why, but he was happy to see Valerie had someone she considered a real friend. But ever since her father had returned with their hotdogs, Valerie made a point of ignoring the three friends.

They were nearing the end of the second quarter, and Casper High was up one touchdown. Elmerson High wasn't giving up easily though. Danny cringed when one of the players from Elmerson High slammed into Jamie, knocking him to the ground. But Jamie didn't get up right away, causing tension to sweep over the crowd as the stands fell silent. They had to help Jamie off the field, and from the way he held onto his right shoulder, he had obviously injured it during the tackle. Everyone clapped when Jamie left the field, but Danny could feel a shift in the mood of the crowd. No one wanted to see a player injured during the game, and it was always unfortunate when it did happen. Then the game went to half time, giving the fans the chance to hit the washrooms and concession stands during the brief pause in the game.

"I'm gonna get some snacks. You two want anything?" Tucker asked as he stood.

"Just water," Sam replied with a book already in her hands. The cover was black, and Danny couldn't read the overly elaborate curling text on the cover but he was positive Sam picked it up from the Skulk and Lurk.

"A candy bar if they have any left," Danny said, and his phone vibrated against his hip. He reached into his pocket as Tucker made his way to the stairs of the bleachers. Staring at his phone with a frown, he thought for a moment before he realized who had sent the text.

On Monday, when he was playing his video game, Danny met up with D again. He told his new friend he probably wouldn't be playing the game as much because his life would be getting a bit busy in the future. He didn't mention it was because of school work and tutoring, and he definitely couldn't say anything about the whole training. D sounded disappointed when he heard the news and asked if they could keep in contact outside the game. Danny could already hear Jazz lecturing him about handing out his contact information to a total stranger he only met in an online video game. He knew it was probably a dumb idea, but Danny had fun chatting with D when they were playing the game together. So after a moment's debate, he agreed to exchange contact information, and they kept in touch through texts.

' _I would fly to the moon and back if you'll be my baby_ ~'

Danny snorted at the text, and next to him, Sam lifted her gaze from her book. Her eyebrow arched upward in silent question. Danny shook his head at her as he typed back his response.

' _You're never going to stop with the space references, are you?_ '

' _Nope~ ;)_ '

Danny rolled his eyes.

' _I guess that's what I get for using the handle AstroNerd_.'

' _So what'cha up 2?_ '

Danny glanced around as the crowd swarmed back to the stands. The second half of the game was about to begin.

' _At a football gameIs that what you meant by busy? Wait. does that mean u play?_ '

Danny laughed then his cheeks burned when he noticed his friends give him a look. "Sorry. Just talking to someone." He accepted the candy bar Tucker handed off to him as his friend reclaimed his spot between Danny and Sam.

' _Me? No way. not the athletic type_.'

"Who are you talking to?" Tucker asked, jerking Danny out of his anxious waiting for the next reply.

"Is it that guy from the game again?" Sam frowned, and the disapproval reminded Danny too much of his sister. "You probably shouldn't have given him your number."

"It's fine. We're just chatting," Danny said, dismissing the worry his friends showed. "It's not like I've given him my home address and he's going to stalk me or something. We just like talking about the game and stuff."

"I still don't know that it's a good idea." Sam folded her arms, her book resting on her lap.

Danny opened his mouth, but before he could respond, he shuddered, an icy sensation trickling down his spine like someone dropped an ice cube down the back of his shirt. He swallowed, trying to force down the lump settling in his throat. Dread came over, a feeling of something being seriously wrong.

"Hey, you all right?" Tucker dropped a hand on his shoulder with a worried look in his green eyes.

Danny jumped at the touch. But at that same moment, a boom rocked the stands. Screams of terror drowned out the cheers from the crowd. The players on the field all halted in the middle of a play. Everyone sought out the source of the noise, eventually drawn toward the smoke billowing from one section of the school. Then the panic rushed through the crowd. Someone kicked Danny in the back as they scrambled to leave the stands. Chaos spread like a virus, and Danny watched it all happening with wide eyes as numbness seeped into him. What just happened?


	15. Chapter 15

"Holy hard drive! What was that?"

Danny barely heard his friend's exclamation. He didn't even notice when he had stood up during the chaos surrounding them. His attention focused on the school building, and his vision blurred for a brief instant, forcing him to blink, as he watched the curl of thick smoke rising into the air. When he opened his eyes again, he sucked in a sharp breath. All around, spots dotted the sky, like glowing green freckles, and they seemed to be converging on the spot where the smoke broke through the roof of the school building.

"Danny!"

Yanked back a step, Danny blinked at his friends, both with panic in their eyes as they held him back. Then it hit him. He was about to take a step forward and send himself tumbling down the bleachers without even a second thought about what he was doing. He swallowed thickly, shaken by that realization.

"Your eyes," Tucker whispered urgently.

Danny clamped his eyes shut, and after a moment to concentrate, he felt them shift back to their normal blue. Why didn't he notice when they shifted to green in the first place? He couldn't have that happen in a crowded place! His friends looked only slightly relieved when he opened his eyes to show they were normal again, but Sam and Tucker seemed as shaken by the experience as he felt.

"So much for a night off." Behind them, Mr. Gray sighed warily, and Danny craned his head around to glance over his shoulder. Mr. Gray got to his feet, appearing aged from exhaustion. "I should get down there and help them."

Danny turned toward "down there" and saw Coach Slater trying to command some order to the panic of everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off after the explosion. Mr. Lancer had left the ticket booth so that he could help the football coach deal with the students and parents. Ms. Chikara wasn't present, but Danny figured she had to stay with the money and make sure it didn't get stolen. After that explosion, they were probably going to need all the money they made from tonight's game to repair the damage.

"You'll get a ride home with your friends?" Mr. Gray stared with concern at his daughter.

"Yeah," Valerie answered dejectedly.

Mr. Gray gave her a quick kiss on the forehead then hurried down the stairs of the bleachers to help the teachers gain some control of the situation. Sirens already blared in the distance as more police, an ambulance, and a fire truck made their way to the high school. Someone, or possibly several someones, had obviously phoned in the incident. Valerie watched her father, frowning at the back of his head, until she glanced over and noticed Danny staring at her.

"What?" Valerie demanded, immediately switching to the defensive as she scowled at him.

Danny shook his head. "Nothing. I just - It must suck having your time with your father interrupted like this. I just wanted to say sorry." He shrugged awkwardly. "Do you want us to help you find Kwan?"

For a moment, it seemed like Valerie's green eyes softened a tad, but then they hardened into an angry glare. "I can take care of myself. I don't need _losers_ to help me with anything." She turned on her heel and walked toward the stairs of the bleachers leading down toward the field.

"Why would you offer to help her?" Sam questioned, frowning at Danny like he suggested something outrageous like they should shave their heads and get tattoos.

"Hey, I know Valerie hasn't been nice to us. But," Danny scratched the back of his head, "does that really mean we have to act like jerks to her? Great. Jazz is in my head again. I guess I'm just saying that bumping heads with them only makes the A List hate us more."

"Oh. So if we act all nice and friendly to them, they _won't_ shove us into lockers and jam our heads into toilets?" Tucker snorted. "I really doubt that."

"Yeah, if the A List is going to treat us like dirt, I don't see any reason to treat them any better," Sam said, folding her arms. Her violet eyes darted around the stands. "Anyway, I think we should probably get out of here. I doubt they're going to continue the game after that explosion."

"What do you think happened anyway?" Tucker frowned as he glanced toward the school.

The fire truck had arrived, and firemen hurried toward the site of the explosion to put out any fires within the school. The paramedics were rushing around to see if anyone on the field suffered an injury, though a few followed the firemen into the school. Was someone hurt in the accident? Danny hoped not, but in the back of his head, he noted he no longer saw the little flecks of green spotting the night sky.

He could only shrug and shake his head in response to his friend's question. "No idea. But we should probably go like Sam said." Danny followed his friends down the stairs of the bleachers, thinking it was a shame the game had to be interrupted.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Danny glanced around, spying Valerie who had met up with Kwan and some of the other A Lists. Mr. Gray was directing the police who had showed up and helping out wherever he could. Some news crews had shown up, and Danny groaned at the sight of Lance Thunder as he combed back his blond hair, preparing to go on air with the news report about the explosion at the school. The three friends managed to sneak away from the football field and make it to Sam's car without anyone noticing them, which wasn't surprising since everyone's attention was more focused on the explosion, though the smoke had faded away by then.

"Do you think anyone got caught up in the explosion?" Danny asked as they drove away from the school.

None of them had an idea of what to do now, but they also didn't want to sit around at the football field. He doubted they would get any answers if they tried to ask their teachers or the police officers about what happened. The adults generally didn't tell the "kids" anything, so sticking around seemed rather pointless. They needed to go someplace where they could kick back and unwind after such an event.

"I hope not," Sam said, echoing Danny's earlier thought, as she drove aimlessly around until someone suggested a place for them to go.

"You know," Tucker said, his voice unusually strained, "if I think about where the smoke was come up from, it - it kind of looked like it was near the robotics club room."

Danny's eyes grew wide, and he pulled himself forward, sticking his head between the front seats to look his friend in the face. "You don't think your robot got destroyed, do you?"

"It's possible." Tucker lowered his gaze, misery settling over him. He had spent so much time working on the robot for the contest. To have it all taken away in the flash of an explosion had to feel like a punch directly to the heart.

"Oh man," Danny mumbled, squeezing his friend's shoulder. "I'm so sorry if something happened to it. I know how much you put into that robot."

"We can start again." Despite his effort to sound positive, Tucker looked like he wanted to be alone so his friends wouldn't witness him crying. "I don't know that we'll have enough time to reconstruct everything for the contest. But," his smile faltered and crumbled, "it's worth a try, right?"

"Yeah!" Danny said encouragingly. "Of course it is! I'll even give you a hand if I can." He was no genius with robotics, but he knew a thing or two about engineering and he could follow instructions on how to piece things together. Tucker managed a weak smile, but he still looked pretty down about the idea of the robot getting destroyed in the explosion. Danny thought for a moment, deciding a change of topic was needed because the mood was getting a little too depressing. "So where should we spend the rest of our Friday night?"

Sam tilted her head with a thoughtful pursing of her lips. "We could check out the warehouse I found." She glanced at her friends, waiting for their response to her suggestion.

Danny shrugged. "I doubt there's anything else to do tonight. Everyone was at the game pretty much."

"Sure," Tucker agreed with a small chuckle. "Having Danny run into walls will be a great way to cheer me up."

Danny gave him a shove, and Tucker laughed louder. "Gee, I'm glad I can help amuse you." He fell back against his seat and relaxed as Sam drove toward the warehouse owned by her family's company.

The warehouse wasn't entirely what Danny imagined when he thought of one. It wasn't some grungy looking building on the edge of town with board up broken windows. It was a nice building with clean gray stone walls. If he was just passing by it randomly, Danny would have thought it was some sort of fancy business rather than a place used for storing supplies. But it was owned by Sam's family, and they were loaded. Sam's mother also preferred everything to _look_ perfect, so a dingy warehouse simply wasn't acceptable to her.

"Are you sure we can practice here without anyone knowing?" Danny asked, giving the building a wary glance over as they walked up to the front door.

"Yeah," Sam slid a key card through the lock and pounded in the code, "and the only person who's going to be around this late at night is the guard." She yanked open the door when it unlocked. "And he'll be easy to get rid of. I'll just tell him we'll be using the basement, and he'll leave us alone."

Inside, the walls were stark white with little adornment. They were met by an employee only moments after the door shut behind them. The man wore the usual overalls of someone who worked in a warehouse lugging around boxes, like the one he currently held. Knitted navy gloves protected his hands from the hard edges of the box. The man frowned, landing a sink eye glance on each one of them.

"What are you kids doing here?" he asked, shifting his hold on the box to something more comfortable.

"We thought we could use the space in the basement to work on a project," Sam explained, and her friends were happy to let her take the lead on this. "For school. We won't get in the way or anything." She blinked, tilting her head slightly. "Isn't your shift over already?"

The man's expression immediately twisted into a grumpy glower. "I was about to head home when I noticed some of those new workers were careless and mixed up where the supplies were supposed to be stored. The boxes are clearly marked! Have they no pride in their work? Sure. It might sound like an easy job. Just unloading the supplies from the delivery trucks and storing them away and shipping supplies to the facilities when they need them and taking inventory to make sure nothing is missing. But that's no reason to slack off and just throw the boxes in randomly. That just makes the work twice as hard when we need to fill an order from the other facilities!"

"Well, I'm sure my parents will be quite pleased with how hard working and dedicated you are to your job," Sam cut in before the man could continue with his rant. "We'll just get out of your way then." She waved for her friends to follow her. They headed down the hall to an elevator and slipped inside without the man trying to stop them. He seemed content enough to ignore their presence after Sam's comment about her parents being pleased with him.

"So this place should have lots of medical supplies, right?" Danny asked when the door slid shut. "We could probably take a sample of my blood and run some tests on it."

"My parents like to keep careful inventory of all the supplies." Sam leaned against the back of the elevator as it carried them down to the basement level. "But there's usually a few things here and there that go missing. You know, like they get used but the employees forget to make note of it, so the amounts don't always add up."

"But would we even know what we're looking for when we look at your blood?" Tucker asked then frowned when his friends turned their gazes upon him. "I might know my stuff when it comes to tech, but this whole blood stuff, I don't know anything about it. And you know, I'm not really good with the whole needles thing."

"Oh yeah," Danny said, wincing as he recalled Tucker's fear of needles, and basically anything related to hospitals. It was always a nightmare for Tucker's parents when he needed to go to see the doctor for any reason. Even a simple physical. "I guess Sam and I can take care of blood stuff later." The elevator came to a stop, and the three friends stepped out once the doors had opened. "That might be better to do in my parents' lab anyway. We'd have everything we need right there."

"Assuming your parents are ever out of the house long enough for us to do anything in their lab," Sam reminded, leading the way to an area on the far side of the basement, hidden behind rows of boxes. "Well, I know this doesn't look like a lot of open space, but you need to practice walking through things, so this will give you lots of obstacles at least."

Danny watched with a flat stare as his friends got comfortable, sitting on the floor and leaning back against the stacks of boxes. "You both just want to laugh at me when I run into things instead of walking through them."

"It is pretty funny." Tucker grinned from ear to ear with amusement in his green eyes.

Danny huffed a dramatic sigh, but after the explosion at school and Tucker worrying about his robot being destroyed, he decided he could suffer through a little humiliation to put a smile on his friend's face. Shifting forms got easier with practice, but it still took him a moment of concentration to transform. While he could randomly phase through things without meaning to, he found turning intangible on command worked better when he was in this weird other form.

"That still freaks me out," Tucker said, drawing Danny's attention back to him. "You just look so weird with the greenish skin and white hair."

"We really need to do something about your clothes though." Sam wrinkled her nose slightly at the now orange jeans. She might not be into fashion with the same passion as Paulina, but Sam still would never allow him to be seen in public with the bizarre color scheme of his clothes when he transformed.

"Well, it's not like I have any control over that." Danny rubbed the back of his neck as he frowned. "It just," he shrugged, "inverts whenever I change." He walked forward and immediately smacked into a stack of boxes. "Ow!" He held his nose. "Why can't I get this?" It was frustrating that he couldn't make himself intangible on command all the time. Sometimes he thought he was getting the hang of it. Then he would run into a wall, or a stack of boxes.

"You are getting better though," Tucker said, throwing some encouragement into his voice.

Danny took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. He could do this! Stepping forward again, he felt a tingle run through his body. Walking through something solid was an odd experience. His whole body had that pins and needles feeling like every inch of him had fallen asleep all at once. He wondered what it would be like to walk through a person, but at the same time, the idea kind of scared him. What if he acted like a ghost and walking through someone was like possessing them? What if he got stuck inside someone's body? He didn't want to take that risk. On the other side of the boxes, Danny struggled to push away the numb feeling of intangibility.

"Maybe I am getting better," Danny called to his friends as a light smile curled upon his face. But even if he mastered control of the intangibility, what was he supposed to do with this power? He hadn't even given thought to that question, too concerned with simply controlling the power so no one else found out what he could do. With a shake of his head, he walked back through the boxes to rejoin his friends. Why did he have to do anything with them? He was only a teenager, and his biggest concern was to simply survive high school.


	16. Chapter 16

"I still can't believe it," Tucker mumbled, sitting in shock with his Nasty Burger burger untouched before him.

After their short impromptu training session last night, they went home, Sam dropping Tucker and Danny off at their houses. Danny found out what happened when he flipped on the television to play the news in the background while he did some of his homework. Since he would be tutoring Elle again over the weekend, he wanted to be sure to get most of his homework done while he had the time. But when the news came on, his mind was immediately distracted as Lance Thunder reported from the high school. According to what the reporter had to say, the source of what caused the explosion wasn't found as of yet, but someone _was_ caught in the explosion. The ambulance whisked Mr. Technus away to the hospital, badly injured and unconscious.

"We were off having a good time, making jokes and all that, while he-" Tucker swallowed thickly, and his eyes were watery with tears.

"He might come out of the coma," Sam said, trying to be positive, though the situation looked rather grim.

Tucker had been close to Mr. Technus ever since they started high school and he joined the robotics club. Some days when they met up for lunch, Tucker would ramble on about everything that happened at the latest club meeting and all the things he was learning from his teacher.

"But he shouldn't have even been there!" Tucker argued, banging a fist down on the table. Then he sank down in the booth as his outburst drew a few looks. "He said he was going over to Axion Labs to discuss some ideas with them. He didn't really have any reason to go back to the robotics club room."

"Maybe he forgot something and went back to pick it up," Danny suggested, dipping his fries into some ketchup. From the moping expression, their efforts to console Tucker was doing little to lift his mood.

"It sucks," Sam agreed, frowning as she pushed around the remains of her salad. "But you can't dwell on the accident like it was your fault. No one could have predicted something like that was going to happen. They even said they couldn't identify what caused the explosion. It was a freak accident. We were all present at the time, and no one could have seen the explosion coming."

The fries slipped from Danny's hand, landing with a splat on his burger wrapper. His stomach twisted uncomfortably, and he lost the rest of his appetite as something occurred to him. Then he noticed his friends staring at him with a mixture of confusion and concern. Danny tried to laugh it off, but that response only made them glare with a determination to get answers out of him.

"Okay. Fine." Danny sighed. After a quick glance around the Nasty Burger, he leaned in closer and his friends copied him. "At the game, just before the explosion, I had this feeling, like-" Danny struggled to think of how to describe it. "It was like when a teacher announces we're having a pop quiz and you just _know_ you're going to fail it. It was kind of like that. That just _knowing_ something bad was about to happen."

"Wait. Wait. Wait." Tucker waved his hands before him. "Are you," he pointed at Danny, "trying to say you knew there was going to be an explosion? Is this part of your, uh," he glanced about quickly, "condition? Super strength, intangibility, and now premonitions?"

"I wouldn't really say premonitions." Danny scratched at the back of his head. "Just a sort of, I don't know, sixth sense. I mean, there have been times all week when I've sort of had this sense that something was going to happen. Like whenever Dash or one of the other jocks tried to bully me. I could have dodged them thanks to the warning, but I let most of them hit because it would be weird if I was suddenly really good at avoiding their harassment."

"That's actually probably a really smart idea," Sam said after a beat of silence passed over the three friends.

"Gee, don't sound too surprised or anything," Danny grumbled, shooting her a dull glare. "I don't want anyone other than the two of you finding out what happened to me. That means I have to pretend to still be my same old loser self."

Tucker groaned. "But imagine what you could do! You could totally scare the daylights out of those jocks. Plus with a little supernatural strength," he grinned deviously, "you could totally pay them back for all the bullying they've put you through."

"I don't think that's how he should use these powers." Sam folded her arms, wearing a severe frown as she narrowed her violet eyes at Tucker.

"Oh, of course not. What was I thinking?" Tucker rolled his eyes. "Why would I ever think using your superior strength against someone else is a good idea?" He shot a look toward the back of the Nasty Burger where some of the jocks were sitting. "Because no one has ever done _that_ in the history of the world."

"Just because you _have_ power doesn't mean you should use it like that," Sam argued. "If he did that, he would be no better than the jocks who bully him for being weaker than they are."

"Hey!" Danny cut in, slapping a hand down on the table to get their attention, which didn't work too well when his arm accidentally phased straight through the table. He hoped no one else saw that, and a panicked scan of the Nasty Burger showed no one was even paying any attention to them. "My powers," he reminded them with a glare. "I'll decide how I want to use them." He sighed, exhaling some of his rage. He could feel his eyes on the verge of shifting to green. "And right now," he continued more calmly, "I don't have any reason to use these powers. I just want to focus on controlling them so I don't accidentally expose myself."

"It is a miracle that no one else has discovered your little secret though," Tucker said then took a large bite out of his burger, which earned a twisted face of disgust from Sam. But at least Tucker had gotten over his depression about Mr. Technus enough to eat again. "I mean," he swallowed the mouthful, "with all the accidents you've had, it would really easy for someone to notice _something_ is up."

"Which makes me worried about Jazz." Danny raked a hand through his hair. He practically fell right through the floor the moment her heard about Mr. Technus being in a coma. Jazz had walked past the kitchen doorway at that exact moment, but luckily for Danny, his sister had her nose in some book and hadn't noticed the incident. "She's always a bit _too_ observant, and I fear she'll begin to notice all the weirdness going on. But let's face it. Unless I'm being picked on by bullies, I'm pretty much as invisible as the ghosts my parents want to capture."

"Turning invisible! Now that would be an awesome ability." Tucker grinned. "Especially with that intangibility." He jumped with a yelp then bent over to rub his shin under the table. Sam wore a dark scowl as she folded her arms. Both of his friends had a fairly good idea of what thought was passing through his mind just then: Tucker would use those abilities to sneak into the girls locker room at school.

"Maybe if you treated women like actual people, you'd get a date," Sam suggested with a pointed glare.

"And with that, I should probably get going." Danny slid easily out of the booth. He did not want to get dragged into this argument. "I have a tutoring session with Elle." Thanks to the generous amount of money he was making from tutoring, he could save up what he earned to maybe buy a ride of his own. As much as he liked his skateboard, he would be able to get places faster if he had a car.

"Leaving already?" Tucker begged him with his eyes not to leave him alone with Sam, who looked ready to start in on a rather long rant.

"Yeah, sorry. I agreed to meet up with Elle, and if I don't leave now, I'm going to be late." Danny slung his bag over one shoulder then scooped up his skateboard. "I'll catch up with you both later." He waved goodbye to his friends, receiving a gloomy response from Tucker and a sharp angry reply from Sam. With a cringe, he headed for the exit of the Nasty Burger. He did not want to be Tucker right now and have to sit through Sam reminding him, again, about how women were more than just sex objects for men. He already heard that speech after Sam got tired of him drooling over Paulina back during freshmen year.

As he skated away from the Nasty Burger, Danny frowned. Thinking about Paulina made him think of the A List which in turn reminded him of Kwan. He still hadn't thought of a good way to say his thanks to the jock who had saved his neck on more than one occasion. He couldn't really ask anyone who knew him either. Dash and Valerie probably wouldn't be all that opened about sharing information about their friend with a loser, even if things were a little better with them. They bullied him, but Dash still seemed to have some respect toward him and Valerie was making the effort so Kwan wouldn't be angry with her.

Releasing a heavy sigh, he shook the thought from his head. He could worry about finding a way to thank Kwan later. Right now, his focus should be on the tutoring session he was about to have with Elle. Maybe Elle might have some good ideas. It would be easier to talk about it with Elle than his friends since Sam, especially, and Tucker didn't much like the A List. They certainly had little desire to be nice to any of the A List.

Danny pushed forward as he reached a street and the walk symbol still showed on the light. He barely got off the curb when an icy cold tingle ran down his spine. Putting his foot down on the ground, he paused as he tried to figure out why he was feeling that sense of dread. It wasn't nearly as strong as last night at the football game right before the explosion, but it was stronger than the usual feeling he got at school when a bully was about to strike. Then his thoughts scattered to wind when an arm caught him around the waist, jerking him backward. His skateboard flew out from under his feet, clattering over the pavement. At the crunch of the skateboard being snapped to pieces under the wheels of the car speeding past him with a blare of a horn, his heart stopped and his eyes widened. That car would have hit him if the person hadn't pulled him back toward safety. He tried to swallow, but his throat felt tight and dry. His legs were like jelly, and he dimly thought it was a good thing someone else was holding him up or he would have collapsed to the ground already.

Wait. Someone was holding him up? The thought pierced through his panic, finally making a connection in his brain. Danny twisted his head around to see who saved him from becoming a pavement pancake, but he couldn't see much. The man - with his back pressed against the other man's chest it was quite clear that it was in fact a man - wore a heavy hooded sweatshirt. Even with the hood up, he wore a baseball cap, which only helped keep his face in shadows. The sunglasses didn't help in identifying the man either, and all Danny could really see was the grim press of the man's mouth and the tuft of hair upon his chin. Then the man's mouth curled into a smirk, and Danny gulped.

"You should be more careful," the man said in a deep voice. "It would be a shame to have a cutie like you getting splattered all over the street."

Danny tried to respond with, "What?" but the word got trapped somewhere in his throat as the arm pulled away from him. The man's fingers brushed over the exposed flesh of Danny's waist, and it wasn't until this action that he realized his shirt had pulled up when the man yanked him back out of the way of the car. His face flared red, and Danny scrambled to sort out his clothes, jerking his shirt back into place. When he twisted around to say something, he found the man was gone, vanishing as if he was never there in the first place. But Danny could still recall the feel the man's muscular arm around him, keeping him safe from being run over by the speeding car, which Danny was certain ran the red light.

Holding a hand to his head, Danny closed his eyes and tried to calm his still quickly beating heart. The sixth sense had helped warn him of danger, but he wasn't observant enough to realize the danger was the speeding car about to hit him. _I guess that's a lesson to be a bit more aware of my surroundings_ , he thought as he glanced at the remains of his skateboard. When the coast was clear, Danny walked into the street and picked up the pieces of wrecked skateboard. Thankfully there was a lull in traffic so he didn't have to worry about being nearly run over by another speeding car. Once he reached the other side of the street, Danny paused, clutching his skateboard parts to his chest as the man's words fully struck him. He spun around to look back at where the man had pulled him to safety, but of course, the man was long gone by then.

_He called me cutie?_ Danny's brain boggled over that fact. The man was clearly several years older than he, and though he hadn't gotten a good look at his face, Danny could definitely say the man possessed strong muscles and a decent physique under the heavy hooded sweatshirt he wore. Danny thought for certain his cheeks were on fire because they were burning so much from his blush. Then he shook his head and continued on his way toward Elle's home. What was he even thinking, getting all embarrassed by some man calling him a cutie? He didn't even know the man! And anyway, Danny doubted he would ever run into that random stranger again. _Get it out of your head_ , he told himself as he focused his mind on tutoring Elle.


	17. Chapter 17

When the door opened, the scowling face of Carmina greeted Danny. She breathed out loudly in annoyance as she stepped aside to allow him entry into the Masters' home. She clearly didn't like him coming into the home she managed any more than Harold liked Danny visiting Sam's house.

"Ah, you greet me with such a beautiful smile every time I come over," Danny said, wearing a cheeky grin. Maybe Sam had a point about his comments angering the staff because Carmina landed him with a glare that screamed of murder. Danny laughed awkwardly. "Right. So I'll just go find Elle. No, no need to lead the way. I know how much you enjoy my company, but really, I'm just here to tutor Elle."

Danny inched away from the woman, trying to be subtle about it. Her glare, if possible, darkened, and Danny wondered if she had something worse than murder on her mind at the moment. _Yeah_ , he thought, _the staff just loves me_. One of these days, he wound need to learn not to run his mouth. Today, however, didn't seem to be that day.

"Now, now, Carmina," said a man in a smooth voice Danny recognized to be Elle's father. Danny turned around to see the man walking down the stairs. After seeing him only in three piece suits, it was odd to see Mr. Masters wearing something casual, like the beige pleated slacks and soft green polo shirt he had on now. His silver hair with the odd lighter streak down the middle was pulled back into its usual ponytail. "You mustn't scowl so much at our guests. They might think poorly of the whole house if the staff treats our guests so poorly."

"My apologies, my lord." Carmina bowed lowly to the head of the house.

"Ah, it's okay," Danny said quickly. He didn't need Carmina hating him even more because he got her into trouble with her employer. "It was totally my fault."

Mr. Masters gave him a curious look, like he was trying to analyze a particularly difficult sample in his research. "I plan to take my lunch now," he told Carmina. His dark blue eyes drifted back to Danny. "Would you care to join me?"

"Ah, that's okay." Danny still had the remains of his skateboard clutched in his arms. "I just had lunch with my friends. And I should probably get started on that tutoring with Elle."

Mr. Masters nodded as Carmina bowed again and left them, heading toward the kitchen. "It seems you've arrived early for today's session," he said and walked toward to the dining room.

Danny blinked then stumbled after him. "Wait. What do you mean?"

"My daughter decided to spend the night out with a friend last night. She hasn't returned home quite yet." Mr. Masters took a seat at the head of the table to wait for his lunch to be served. "Rather inconsiderate, wouldn't you say? She made plans to meet with you for tutoring and failed to notify you have her tardiness." His mouth pursed slightly, clearly indicating his displeasure with his daughter's behavior.

Danny frowned. "Okay. Maybe it would have been nice to get a heads up about her being late," he admitted. "But Elle's only fifteen. You can't fault her for acting like a teenager sometimes."

Mr. Masters leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "You defend my daughter. I appreciate that. However, I raised Elle for most her life as a single father. I have certain expectations for her. One of those expectations is that she honors the commitments she makes and shows up on time to said commitments."

"Well, sure, but-" Danny struggled against the man's argument. "It's just this one time. And I don't really mind, so it's no big deal."

"The behavior is rude and shows you disrespect." Mr. Masters frowned deeply as he stared at Danny. "It's a slippery slope when you decide it's okay to get away with something because it's 'just this one time.' Next thing you know, she's skipping these tutoring sessions altogether and hanging out with an unsavory crowd and getting into drugs and drinking alcohol."

"I think that's a little extreme."

"Perhaps, but I prefer to stop that kind of behavior before it has a chance to lead my daughter down a bad path."

Carmina entered the dining room then, carrying a tray in her hands. She shot Danny a dirty look but quickly schooled her expression as she walked over to where her employer sat. Danny half expected Mr. Masters to have a fancy meal, but instead it was a simple lunch of a turkey sandwich and tomato soup with a glass of water. It hardly seemed like something a wealthy billionaire would eat.

"Thank you, Carmina," Mr. Masters said as he picked up his napkin. "Please give Sasha my thanks as well."

Carmina bowed then twisted on her heel and strode out of the dining room. Mr. Masters placed the napkin over his lap, but before he began his meal, he turned to Danny.

"Please." The man gestured to the chair beside him. "If you're not going to eat, at the very least take a seat and rest until Elle returns."

Danny hesitated, wishing he had somehow escaped to Elle's room to wait there without Mr. Masters noticing his presence. With a resigned sigh, he laid out his broken skateboard on the table then sat down, dropping his bag to rest next to the chair. When he glanced toward the man, he saw the pointed glare at the skateboard and swallowed.

"Ah, sorry." Danny gathered up the pieces then tried to cram them into his bag so they would be out of sight. "Just a minor accident. But I'm okay." If by okay, he meant having suffered a minor heart attack because of the speeding car nearly hitting him. _I didn't even get to thank that man!_ He wanted to kick himself when he realized that. The mystery man had vanished before he even got the chance.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay. But I hardly think it's a good idea to be riding around on something so dangerous." Mr. Masters ate his lunch with impeccable table manners, which made Danny feel like a slob when it came to eating. He dabbed at his mouth then laid his napkin over his lap again. "Fenton. Your parents are scientists, are they not?" His curious gaze rested on Danny, who sat up straighter.

"Huh? I mean, yeah - Yes!" Danny swallowed nervously. "They do mostly private work. Sometimes they get a contract with the government for special projects."

Mr. Masters nodded. "I've kept up with some of their research."

"You have?" Danny's eyes nearly bulged right out of their sockets in surprise.

"Of course! I like to keep up with all the latest developments in the scientific field." Mr. Masters stared like he was surprised Danny hadn't realized that fact. "And we happened to go to college together. I like to follow along with what sort of research they're working on now."

Danny's mouth worked up and down a few times as his brain struggled to digest this news. "You went to college with my parents?"

An amused smirk played across the man's face. "That's what I just said, isn't it? We worked on a few projects together and shared our findings." His expression turned wistful. "Those were good days."

"So how come you've never visited before?" Danny flushed when Mr. Masters glanced toward him. "I mean, um, since you knew my parents back then, um - Did you not stay friends?"

"Ah, well, you know." Mr. Masters shrugged, and the corners of his mouth turned downward. "After graduation, we went our separate ways. That's just life sometimes."

"Oh." Danny wasn't sure what else he should say. "I guess that makes sense."

The door opened then slammed shut again. Mr. Masters frowned as he set his napkin down on the table. Danny twisted around his seat as the man stood. Elle passed by the doorway to the dining room, but when her father cleared his throat, Elle backtracked then entered the room with a wince.

"You didn't think it polite to call and inform your tutor that you would be late?" Mr. Masters questioned, folding his arms behind his back. Elle opened her mouth to respond, but her father continued before she could speak even a single word. "I thought you were finally getting serious about your studies. Did you think improving your grades a little meant you could start slacking off again?"

"That's not-"

"If you're not going to take this seriously," Mr. Masters said, narrowing his eyes sharply to silence his daughter's protests, "maybe you should stop wasting this young man's time."

Danny shifted awkwardly in his chair as he tried to think of something to say to defuse the situation. Elle curled her hands into fists, and her jaw clenched tightly like she was holding back the urge to explode angrily at her father. After a tense moment, Elle stomped over to him and grabbed Danny by the arm. He barely had time to grab his bag before Elle was dragging him out of the room.

"Then I guess we better get started on that tutoring," Elle snapped at her father.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Danny winced as they headed up the stairs. "Are you trying to pull my arm off?" In comparison, the mechanical arm was much stronger, and violent, than Elle, but Danny was still glad his shoulder had healed since the incident at Axion Labs.

"Sorry," Elle mumbled once they reached the top of the stairs. She released her hold on his wrist then hugged her arms around her waist. Dark bags were under her eyes, like she had spent the entire night up and still hadn't gotten a moment's rest.

"Hey." Danny touched her arm as he frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes! No! I don't know!" Elle sighed and rubbed at her tired eyes. "You remember when you first came over for a tutoring session? And I told you about Ember?" Once Danny nodded, Elle continued, "Well, she didn't show up for school yesterday, so I went to her house to see if maybe she stayed home sick, but her parents didn't even realize she hadn't gone to school. So I was out all night checking with places I knew she hung out and where her friends usually hung out, but no one knew where she was. And I'm really worried that something's happened to her."

Danny could see the concern in her eyes, and he doubted Elle would be able to focus on studying while she was worried about her friend. "Why don't you go freshen up, if you want, and grab your study stuff? We can talk about the material while walking around town and looking for clues about what happened to your friend."

Elle blinked in surprise. "What? Really? You don't mind?"

"If it was my friend, I would want to be out there looking too." Danny imagined Tucker or Sam vanishing without a trace, and the thought scared him. "Now hurry up and get ready to go." He nudged her down the hall toward her bedroom. Elle jogged away, and Danny was left standing alone at the top of the stairs. He took a seat on the top stair and leaned back on his arms as he waited for Elle to return.

Why did it feel like some crazy force was at work ever since the incident at Axion Labs? He had his accident then the robbery at the facility Sam's parents owned, which was followed by the explosion at school that put Mr. Technus into a coma. Now Elle's friend was missing? Maybe he was only noticing so bad many things happening at once because they were connected to his life in some way. The news always had stories about crimes happening around town, but they were simply background noise for the most part while he did his homework. A jewelry store got robbed? That didn't have any effect on his life. An apartment building in the downtown area of Amity Park had a fire? He didn't visit the downtown area often.

Elle returned a few moments later, looking better than she had when she returned home. "All right, teach. Let's go!" She poked him in the back with the toe of her shoe.

Danny stood and followed her down the stairs and to the front door. "So where do you want to start looking?"

Elle sighed as they left her home. "I don't even know." She shook her head, shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat. "I've already looked pretty much everywhere I can think of that Ember would have gone."

Danny pondered while they walked down the street. Where would he go if he was a teenage woman who wanted nothing more than to become a famous singer? "Are there any clubs she would try to get a gig at?"

"I spent half the night checking out the club scene, but no one had seen her." Elle reached up and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

Danny wondered if he should have let Elle stay home and get some rest. If she was out all night searching for her friend, she would be ready to crash any moment now. "Okay. So the club scene is out." His mouth pressed thin as his gaze darted about the street, keeping alert for any woman with bright blue hair. "There hasn't been any strange people hanging around her lately, has there?"

Elle shrugged with a worry knit her brow. "I can't really say. We hang out sometimes, sure, and I know some of her friends, but I don't know everything that goes on in her life. If she met someone, she wouldn't necessarily tell me about it. But none of her friends told me anything about her hanging out with someone new."

Finding Ember wasn't sounding like it would be an easy task. "Um, well-" Danny scratched the back of his head. "Do you have a picture of her? Maybe we can just wander around town and show off her picture to people. Someone must have seen her."

"Yeah! Actually I do." Elle dug around in her bag until she found a folded piece of paper. When she flattened it out, it showed an image of Ember much like the poster in Elle's bedroom.

They walked around, stopping people and asking if they had seen Ember sometime in the past day. During lulls in their search, they discussed various subjects Elle was studying in school, which helped make the time seem to pass faster. They had little luck finding any hint of Ember's whereabouts. It was like she had simply disappeared from Amity Park. But that didn't make any sense. How could she vanish without anyone seeing anything or any clues left behind?

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Elle said, breaking up the conversation they were having. "I just don't understand what could have happened to Ember. She had no reason to just run away. At least, I never thought she did."

"Hey, it's okay." Danny placed a hand on Elle's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "It's only natural to worry about someone you care about when they suddenly disappear without a word."

"Yeah," Elle mumbled, and her gaze looked distant, like she was thinking of something else entirely.

"Maybe-" Danny pondered over ideas for what could have happened to Ember. "Maybe she got a gig in another town so she skipped out on school yesterday to drive over there. And she just didn't think to tell anyone about it."

"I guess that could have happened." But Elle's expression looked doubtful despite the plausibility of the story.

Danny sighed internally, wishing he was better at cheering up his friends. "I'm sure if we keep looking, we'll-" Growling cut off what he was about to say. They stared at each other for a moment before they both darted for the entrance of the narrow alley between two buildings.

"Stupid mutt!" The boy with wavy brown hair sneered and tossed a rock at the dog before him. The dog avoided being hit and growled again, its heckles raised and teeth bared. If the young boy wasn't careful, the dog would strike, and from the looks of its teeth, the dog would leave a nasty scar if it got a hold of the boy.

"Hey!" Danny shouted, anger thrumming through his veins. His eyes threatened to shift to green, and he had to pull back his rage, as difficult as it was. The boy turned at the call. A dark smear of dirt covered his left cheek. He cursed under his breath and ran, skirting around the still growling dog.

"What kind of kid harasses a dog?" Elle scoffed at the boy's behavior.

"I don't know," Danny admitted in a mumble. If he had stuck around, the boy probably would have given them some sort of excuse for his behavior. But Danny wouldn't have accepted any of it for the boy's cruel behavior. Carefully, he approached the dog, moving slowly and holding out his hand. "It's okay," he said when the dog turned toward him and growled. "I'm not going to hurt you like that mean boy."

"Danny, maybe you should be careful," Elle warned anxiously as she kept her distance from a potentially dangerous dog.

After some hesitation and a few more angry growls, the dog inched forward and gave Danny's hand a tentative sniff. Then the dog barked and licked at his fingers. With a laugh, Danny scratched behind the dog's ears.

"You're a good dog, aren't you? When mean boys aren't throwing rocks at you." Danny grinned when the dog barked in answer. He turned and glanced over his shoulder at Elle. "See? Nothing to be worried about."

"You're pretty good with animals." Elle crouched down beside him and let the dog sniff at her hand.

"I always wanted a puppy when I was a kid, but my parents would never let me get one." Danny smiled a little sadly.

"Hey, he doesn't have a collar on him." Elle searched around the dog's neck. "I guess he's a stray."

"I wish I could take him home. He seems like a good dog." Danny gave the dog one last pat on the head then he stood. "I guess we should keep looking for your friend." He hoped that boy wouldn't come back once they left to continue his harassment of the dog.

"Yeah," Elle agreed in a mumble. Then she repeated it with a little more enthusiasm. "Yeah! We're going to find a clue!"

They left the dog in the alley as they went to continue searching for Ember. Danny, however, didn't miss the dog following behind them with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his tail wagging happily behind him.


	18. Chapter 18

They didn't find any clues about Ember's whereabouts. By the time they returned to her home, Elle's shoulders were slumped, and discouragement showed in her blue eyes. Danny couldn't think of anything to say after Elle spent a whole day searching for her missing friend. Saying something like "you'll find her" or "someone must have seen her" seemed kind of empty when they found no hint of Ember all day.

Danny felt guilty accepting any payment for tutoring. They talked about her studies during their time together, but Elle's mind was mostly focused on Ember. Danny managed to convince her to only pay him for a third of the usual amount for his time. He knew Tucker would call him crazy for turning down so much money, but Danny couldn't accept it in good conscience. He wished he could have done more to help Elle find Ember, but they had little to point them in the right direction.

The dog continued to follow them after they left the alley where they found him, and a quick check confirmed the dog was indeed male. Danny stopped in a convenient store they passed to pick up some dog treats and fed the dog some as they walked around town. While they talked, Danny came up with the idea, since the dog didn't seem to have an owner, to call him Cujo. The dog approved with a happy bark. Even though he didn't seem to have an owner, Cujo showed he knew a few tricks, which suggested someone might have owned him at some point. Danny could hold up a hand with the promise of a treat, and Cujo would immediately sit and fall silent, though his tail would wag crazily in his excitement. Having Cujo around actually proved to be an asset because more people stopped to talk with them as they wanted to pet the cute, friendly dog.

"He would be the perfect dog too," Danny said with a sigh after he finished retelling of his Saturday after lunch to Sam. The moment his parents mentioned they would be going out for the evening, Danny called Sam up to come over so they could sneak into his parents' laboratory. Jazz hadn't come home yet from tutoring, or maybe some volunteer project. It was always hard to keep up with her schedule. "But of course, my parents won't let me adopt him." A frown settled upon his face as he picked the lock.

"Did you even ask them?" Sam leaned against the wall beside the door with her arms folded, like she was keeping look out in case Danny's parents came back and caught them. His parents said they wouldn't return home until much later that evening. But it would be good to be alert in case Jazz came home.

"Well," Danny winced as he lifted his head to glance at Sam, "I kind of figured they would say no since that was what they always said before."

"Yeah, because you were eight back then." Sam rolled her eyes. "They probably just didn't want to be the ones having to take care of the dog when you slacked off on the responsibility of caring for a pet. You're way more mature and responsible now. They might actually say yes this time."

The lock clicked open, and Danny stood, tucking away his lock picking tools. Sam did make a certain amount of sense. If he actually sat down to think of things from his parents perspective, he could understand why they might not be so keen on getting an irresponsible eight year old a dog. But he had matured over the years, and if he were given the chance to own a dog, he would take care of it.

"Maybe I'll ask them later." Danny pushed open the door with a grin. "But we have other things to focus on right now." He led the way into the laboratory, and when they hit the bottom of the stairs, Sam gasped. Her expression of awe was much like the way Danny felt every time he came down into the laboratory to find his parents' latest project.

"I can't believe you've never told us about this." Sam walked over to one of the tables and bent over as she examined the vials and tubes filled with brightly colored liquid. While his parents were focused on their research on ghosts and the uses of ectoplasm, they worked on plenty of other projects too.

"It was really tempting," Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked over to a different table. "Especially when I read that my parents thought ectoplasm could be used for a continuously recyclable energy source. If they could figure out a way to obtain enough ectoplasm and get their Ecto-Converter to work and it doesn't harm the environment like carbon emissions, it could be a really big step in changing the world. But," he sighed as he pulled out a needle from his pocket, "obtaining real ectoplasm is hard, and my parents don't trust any sort of synthesized version. And they haven't worked out all the kinks for the Ecto-Converter."

"At least your parents are actually working on something for helping the environment," Sam grumbled, pulling herself away from the table. "My parents just put on a show about caring for the environment." She held up her hands before Danny could say anything. "I know. We aren't here to talk about my poor relationship with my parents. We're here to figure out just what happened to you. Assuming that we can." She lifted an eyebrow at the needle in Danny's hand. "Do a lot of sewing?"

Danny blinked then frowned. "My dad taught me. And joke all you want, but sewing can be a very handy skill."

"Wait. Wait." Sam bit her lower lip, holding back a laugh. "Don't tell me you sewed all your Halloween costumes."

"Tucker and I made them together." Danny frowned as Sam struggled not to dissolve into laughter. "Anyway," he said forcibly, "this little baby," he patted a machine on the table that was hooked up to a computer, "is the FentAnlyzer."

"Really?" Sam snorted at the name.

"Hey! I wasn't the one that picked the name," Danny protested. He sighed when Sam folded her arms and gave him a pointed stare. "Yeah, okay. I make up some pretty bad names too. But this time, it was all my dad. The point is, I can just put a few drops of blood in here." He popped open a small slide that ejected from the side. "And it'll analyze the sample. My parents use it mostly for ectoplasm samples, but normal blood should work in it too."

Sam nodded as her violet eyes flicked over the equipment. Then her brow pinched the way it did when she was having an internal debate about something. "Do you think it makes a difference if we run the blood sample while you're human or while you're, uh, whatever you are in that other form?"

Danny paused with his finger hovering over the slide. He stared at his finger, the tip of the needle barely pressing into the pad, as he pondered the question for a good minute. "Maybe we should take samples from both," he decided, lifting his gaze to his friend. "We can compare them to see if there's any difference." When the needle pierced his flesh, he flinched as a small bead of blood welled up from the puncture. He squeezed out a few drops onto the slide then he wrapped a Band-Aid around the finger.

"So is this it?"

Danny lifted his head as he pushed the slide back in and the machine gave a whir as it processed the sample. Sam had moved away to explore the laboratory and now stood before the yellow and black striped doors. Danny shuddered when his eyes landed on the doors, recalling vividly the last time he was in the laboratory. Sam must have noticed his reaction because she frowned in concern.

"Nightmares?" she questioned gently.

Danny sighed and scratched a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I just can't seem to shake them. Luckily, they haven't been the wake up screaming in the middle of the night kind, but they're still pretty bad."

"I guess that's to be expected." Sam walked back over to him and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Anyone else who had that sort of experience would probably be having nightmares too."

"How was Tucker?" Danny asked, not wanting to dwell on his nightmares of being electrocuted all over again. "You know, after I left yesterday."

"He seemed a little better, but he's still down about what happened to Mr. Technus." Sam leaned against the table as she sighed. "If he didn't have that phobia of hospitals, he probably would have gone to see how Mr. Technus was doing."

"Maybe we can pay a visit for him and give him the news afterward," Danny suggested as he opened the slide on the FentAnalyzer when it dinged to tell him it was ready to take a new sample. He changed forms, shaking his head lightly at the orange jeans. "Well, time to test sample number two." He poked the pad of his middle finger this time.

"That's, uh, different." Sam leaned in as Danny did to stare at the bright green substance beading from his finger. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that accident definitely did something to you."

Danny glared flatly, a sharp retort nearly falling from his mouth because it was obvious even before seeing the green blood that the accident had altered him. But at least now he had definitive proof of the change to his DNA. His mouth pulled into a thin frown as the green blood dripped onto the slide.

"You know, it kind of reminds me of ectoplasm," Danny admitted, recalling the container from the machine he had taken after the accident. It only had a small amount of ectoplasm left in it, but he wondered if he should grab it from his room and compare a sample from it to the sample of his blood.

Sam stared at him for a long moment as Danny pushed the slide back into the machine and bandaged his finger. "So," she broke the silence, "what got your parents into this whole ghost thing anyway? And how long have you been a genius when it comes to ectoplasm?"

Danny pondered, rubbing the back of his neck as he reverted back to human. "Well, my parents seem to have always had an interest in ghosts and studying ectoplasm. I didn't really get into the whole thing until I was about seven and learned how to pick locks from my aunt."

"I still can't believe you've managed to keep all of this," Sam waved an arm at the laboratory, "a secret from us for so long."

"You tried to keep being rich a secret," Danny reminded. "Did you really think Tucker and I would only like you for the money?"

"I just didn't want to turn into one of those snobby, think I'm better than everyone else rich girls." Sam moved toward the computer monitor hooked up to the FentAnlyzer. "Oh, looks like you got something for your regular blood already."

Danny turned to the monitor, his blue eyes flicking over the information on the screen. "Looks like everything's okay there." He frowned slightly as the FentAnlyzer read that the blood sample came from him. The analysis didn't show much else that would cause concern.

"I want to say that makes sense," Sam's brow creased, "but none of this really makes any sense. On the bright side, though, at least if you have to go to the hospital or something, they won't be able to tell anything from your blood work. So your powers should at least be safe from discovery that way."

"I hadn't even thought about that." Danny breathed out a sigh, standing up straighter as he ran a hand through his raven locks. "That is a relief though." Now that it was on his mind, he could imagine a team of men in suits with dark sunglasses swarming into his hospital room and carting him off to some top secret location for experimentation and dissection. The idea made him feel cold inside, but that thought made the relief of his blood appearing normal when human all the greater.

The analysis of the second sample took only a few more minutes to complete before the information appeared upon the screen. They both leaned in to read what was displayed on the monitor. Danny felt a little green in the face, even without transforming.

"That says ectoplasm," Sam said.

"Yeah." Danny's hand shook as he placed it on the mouse then scrolled down to examine the chart at the bottom. That weird other form he could change into had blood made of ectoplasm. His throat felt tight when he tried to swallow. Did that mean his other form was a ghost? In some ways, it made sense to him. The machine had used ectoplasm when it activated, though it had failed to function properly and create a portal to the realm where ghosts reside. The accident had also caused him to be struck dozens of times by electricity, an incident which _should_ have killed him. But how was he still alive? And why did he have a ghost form?

"What are you two doing down here?"

Danny jumped at the voice as the trembling running through his body stilled while every muscle grew tight with panic. Slowly, cautiously, he turned around to meet the stern glare of his sister. Jazz stood a few feet away from them with her arms folded and one foot tapping impatiently upon the floor.

"Uh," Danny said cleverly as he fought to think of some excuse to give his sister, "I thought you were out tutoring or something." He cringed internally, knowing that statement hardly helped the situation.

"And now I'm home." Jazz dropped her arms as she closed the distance between them. "But you didn't answer my question. You know you're not supposed to come down into the lab."

"We weren't going to mess with any of Mom and Dad's stuff. We were just-"

"Using the FentAnlyzer?" Jazz glared, and Danny shrank back, feeling like he was six again and being scolded for breaking one of the lamps by accident. His sister turned her gaze onto the computer screen, and after a few minutes, she frowned. "Where did you get this sample? It's not one of Mom and Dad's."

"What?" Danny looked over the analysis reading again. "Hey, you're right." It had the usual basic markers of a sample of ectoplasm, but the other markers would probably be classified as anomalies by his parents, at the very least proving this sample didn't come from their stock. Was it because it was mixed with his DNA? Or was something else at work here?

"I guess knowing about ectoplasm runs in the family," Sam said, one corner of her mouth pulling into an amused smirk.

Jazz huffed as she stood up straight. "It's ridiculous to believe in such nonsense as ghosts. They don't exist."

"Right." Danny grinned. "So why do you know so much about ectoplasm then? You wouldn't have known this wasn't a sample from Mom and Dad if you hadn't studied it even a little."

Jazz's cheeks turned slightly pink. "I like to be informed about things, even if I don't believe in their existence. How do you expect to make a rational argument if you don't understand both sides? That's basic debate knowledge."

"Yeah, but to learn about it, you would have had to sneak down here sometimes," Danny pointed out with a smirk.

"Did you think you were the only one Aunt Alicia taught to pick locks?" Jazz cocked an eyebrow at him with the tiniest bit of a grin. "But you two, out. Now. No more messing around in the lab." She pointed toward the stairs.

"Still want to be in our family?" Danny asked in a murmur to Sam.

"I'd still take Jazz over my parents any day of the week," Sam answered. "Jazz, at least, doesn't try to control you and turn you into a little puppet in a pink dress." She made a face like she was about to vomit.

Danny chuckled as he deleted the sample reports from the FentAnlyzer so his parents wouldn't find them and know that they had been in the laboratory. Then all three of them left the laboratory.


	19. Chapter 19

"I can't believe something like this would happen here."

Danny paused in the middle of smearing strawberry jam on his toast to look over at his mother. She had the newspaper spread out before her on the kitchen table while both his parents read over one of the news articles. His parents wore a troubled crease in their brow. Danny carried his breakfast over to the table and sat down in his usual chair.

"What's happened now?" Danny lifted his toast to take a bite.

"A murder," his father answered with his usual cheer absent from his tone. "An employee from Axion Labs was found with his head chopped off in his apartment last night."

"A terrible thing." His mother shook her head. "The witness was pretty unreliable too. A man who had drunk so much last night he could barely see two feet in front of him claims to have seen a man leaving the apartment with blood stains on his full bodied suit. Says the man even wore a mask."

"Like Police Chief Gray didn't have enough unsolved cases to deal with already." His father sighed as he folded up the newspaper. "The robbery at the Manson's facility. Then the explosion at the high school." He turned his worried blue eyes onto Danny. "I'm just glad you and Jazz didn't get hurt while you were at the game."

With a mouthful of toast, Danny blinked at his father, the words taking a moment to catch up to him. "Wait. I thought - Ow!" Danny winced as he felt a smack to the back of his head.

"Come on, slowpoke. How long does it take you to finish breakfast?" Jazz stood behind him with her bag thrown over her shoulder and ready to head to school.

Danny frowned but hurried to finish up his breakfast. When he was done, he carried his dishes over to the sink then grabbed his bag. "Someone's in a hurry to get to school." He nudged his sister with an elbow as they headed toward the front door.

"Be careful!" their mother called from the kitchen.

"Keep clear of any leftover wreckage from the explosion," their father added.

Danny rolled his eyes, but he and Jazz both called back a goodbye before stepping out of the house. "So you told Mom and Dad you were going to the game last Friday?" His eyebrow lifted in question as they walked toward her car. "What was that about tutoring or club projects or whatever? Where did you _really_ go on Friday?"

"I had something to do." Jazz shrugged then unlocked the car doors.

Danny's mouth pursed as he watched his sister climb into the car. He didn't like the idea of his sister keeping secrets from him. But who was he to complain? He had a huge secret of his own he was keeping from her. Releasing a sigh, he decided to drop the topic for now. If his sister wanted to tell him, Danny believed she would in her own time. He climbed into the passenger seat, and Jazz turned the key in the ignition as her brother buckled up.

"I can't believe we have to go back to school," Danny said, leaning back in his seat. "There was an explosion at school. You'd think they'd shut down for that or something."

Jazz snorted and glanced his way as she drove them to school. "Did you think you'd get a year off from school while they worked on repairs?" She shook her head, auburn hair swishing around her shoulders. "You do know that would mean being held back a year, right? Which means going to college a year late, which means entering the job market a year late. You realize that the economy and job market aren't a stable thing, right? It might be good now, but wasting a year might land you during a time when jobs aren't so easy to come by."

"Yeah, but you could just as easily argue that the job market could improve in a year."

"Do you want to risk it?" Jazz shot a pointed glare his way. "Anyway, they'll probably just close off that section of the school and relocate the classes to spare rooms or even the cafeteria or the gym if there aren't any empty classrooms to use during those periods."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Danny waved off his sister's comment. Naturally she would know about stuff like that. He sighed as he slid down a bit in his seat, waiting for them to arrive at school.

After Sam left last night, Danny had tried to ask his parents about maybe adopting the stray dog he found while he was out with Elle. His parents didn't look too thrilled by the idea of getting a dog, but his father said they would think about it. Danny decided to believe it meant he had a slim chance of them saying yes in the future. At least it wasn't an outright no this time.

Danny wasn't sure if he should mention it, but after some debate, his curiosity won out. Jazz had already gone to her bedroom to finish up some studying before calling it a night. His mother had some laundry she wanted to fold and put away. This left Danny and his father alone in the front room to talk in private. Danny decided to be blunt and ask his question directly.

"So you were friends with Mr. Masters in college?" Danny glanced out the corner of his eye while he worked on a last section of his homework.

His father blinked in surprise, pausing as he tinkered with something. "Oh, you mean V-man!" He grinned widely, his dark blue eyes going distant for a moment like he was recalling memories long forgotten. "We had some good times back then. We were roommates even."

Danny jerked his head around to stare, wide eyed, at his father. "Roommates?" Mr. Masters hadn't mentioned that when they spoke the other day.

"Oh sure! For most of college. Me, V-man, and Maddie were all part of a club during college. We worked on a lot of projects together and discussed ideas about various things. Though I guess a lot of it always came back to ghosts."

Danny sat there numbly, taking in the fact that his parents were friends, at least for a time, with Mr. Masters, billionaire and president of Axion Labs, who was featured in numerous magazines. "So what happened?" he blurted out, and his father stared him with a confused wrinkle in his brow. "Uh, I mean, if you were such good friends with him in college, why didn't you stay friends?"

His father shrugged. "Well, people grow apart, I guess." Then he frowned like the question troubled him. "Vlad never really gave a reason. He got angry one day and stormed out of the lab. And that was it."

From the pain in his eyes, Danny could tell the end of their friendship had really hurt his father. But that was the end of their conversation as his father got up with an excuse of needing to check on something in the laboratory. Danny still couldn't imagine his parents and Mr. Masters in college, all hanging out with each other.

Jazz parked the car in the school lot, and Danny sighed as he undid his seatbelt. Another wonderful day of high school! At least some of the bullying had lightened up, but Danny nearly groaned out loud when he remembered he still hadn't thought of something to get Kwan as a thank you for all his help.

"Do you have anything after school today?" Danny asked as they climbed out of the car. "I might go to the hospital with Sam to see if they can tell us anything about Mr. Technus' condition. Tucker's been pretty depressed about it."

"Yeah, I was planning on tutoring Dash tonight." Jazz brushed a lock of hair back behind an ear as she frowned. "I still can't believe something like that would happen at our school. And they still can't figure out what caused the explosion. It wasn't like there was a gas leak anywhere. They checked after the explosion to make sure it would be safe for us to return to school, and they found no sign of anything harmful in the school."

Danny shoved his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt. "Well, I'm sure Valerie's dad will figure out what happened." He frowned when he caught the pinch in his sister's brow. "What? Why are you making that face?"

"You don't know?" Jazz lifted her eyebrows, surprise gracing her face as she turned to him. "Walker has been gunning for the position of Chief of Police. One wrong move by Valerie's dad could give Walker the chance to steal his job."

"How nice of you to talk about other people's parents behind their back." Valerie rammed her shoulder into Danny as she passed him toward the door into school.

"Hey, we weren't-"

"Val, we didn't mean it to sound like that," Jazz said calmly. "We were talking about the explosion last Friday. We know your father is doing everything he can to find out what happened."

"Of course he is." Valerie huffed, folding her arms. "I wish some _other_ people would realize that."

"No one wants Walker for Police Chief anyway," Kwan said, tossing a football in his hands. "The guy is all about the rules. If he was made Police Chief, it would be a nightmare for the rest of us. He would probably enforce some lame curfew for teenagers. Especially if he could find some rule listed about it somewhere."

"Ugh!" Valerie shuddered like someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of her shirt. "Don't talk about Walker. I hate that guy!" She turned around and yanked open the door to the school.

"Ah!" The woman on the other side blinked then smiled widely. "I thought I heard some voices out here."

Danny's gaze swept over the woman, who was rather impossible to miss in her bright red dress suit. Her clothing was only outdone by her red hair, which was pulled back in the oddest style Danny had ever seen. On _anyone_. If she was going for some sinister demonic horn look, she nailed it.

"I'm Penelope Spectra. New counselor." Her sharp green eyes flicked over the four of them, and the way her mouth stretched to one side in a crooked grin didn't inspire much trust, in Danny's opinion. "If you ever have anything you'd like to discuss, my door will always be open." Her gaze fell upon Valerie. "You look like you have something troubling you. Would you like to go to my office and discuss it?"

"Uh, no, that's okay." Valerie shied away from the woman. "I need to get stuff from my locker." She grabbed Kwan's arm and hurried past the woman into the school.

"Yeah, I've got stuff to talk to my friends about," Danny said. "See you later, Jazz!" He gave his sister a wave as he darted into the school. If Ms. Spectra was a counselor, Jazz would probably get along well with her. They could talk about psychology and all that head stuff Danny hated when his sister decided to analyze everything about him. He heard a sigh to his right and paused halfway down the hall to find Lancer. "Something wrong?" He walked over to his teacher.

"Ah, it's nothing really." But Lancer wore a frown as he folded his arms over his potbelly. "Principal Ishiyama thought it would be a good idea to bring in a counselor to talk to students after what happened on Friday during the game. She's supposed to have really good references and is apparently a top counselor."

"But you don't like her?" Danny guessed.

Lancer turned his gaze onto his student, and his frown deepened. "I don't know much about her. But she's been approaching every student she can find to convince them to talk with her. You can't force someone to confide in you. If students want to talk to someone about something, they'll come to her when they're ready."

"Well, no offense to her, but you're still my number one if I want to talk to a teacher about something."

A fond smile spread onto Lancer's face. "I do appreciate that. I'm always willing to help out my students when it's needed."

Danny grinned. "I should probably get ready for class."

"Oh, yes," Lancer's smile turned to a more amused one, "wouldn't want to anger Mr. Green by being tardy."

Danny groaned, shoulders sagging at the mention of Mr. Green. "See you in class!" He parted ways with his teacher and headed off to find his friends.

Danny made it to his locker with only one minor incident in which Dash gave him a little jostle, naturally wanting to preserve his title of king of the school. But it was more like rough housing than actually trying to beat the snot out of him. Kwan clearly could tell when Dash was acting the role of a bully since he didn't feel it necessary to jump in and stop it. Danny did note that Dash still kept away from causing any further harm to the shoulder injured at Axion Labs, even though it had healed up during the accident in his parents' laboratory.

"So are we going to hit the hospital today after school?" Danny twisted the lock to the right combination then yanked open his locker to grab some books.

"What?" Tucker let out a squeak, paling several shades at the mention of a hospital.

"Not you, of course." Danny patted his friend on the back. "We just want to check in to see how Mr. Technus is doing for you."

"Oh." Tucker relaxed. "That's awesome of you." He grinned, though he still looked a little queasy.

Sam groaned, leaning against the lockers. "I wish I could! My mom," she ground it out like she was ready to claw out some eyeballs, which made Danny inch away from her, "is forcing me to attend dinner with that stupid Gregor."

"Gregor?" Tucker's brow furrowed. "Do I know this Gregor?"

Sam shook her head. "He's just some son of the president of another company. He talks with this really fake Hungarian accent."

"Yikes!" Tucker cringed. "I can't imagine that dinner going well."

"Stuck for an evening with her parents _and_ some guy she doesn't care about?" Danny chuckled. "Yeah, that's not going to be a fun time."

"I'm so glad my misery amuses you." Sam glared darkly at them. "Say," she forced a smile onto her face as she sidled up to Danny, "you wouldn't want-"

"Sorry," Danny answered before she could complete the question. "That's not a dinner I want to sit through. Anyway, I think I'll still hit the hospital to check on Mr. Technus." Danny frowned in apology when Sam huffed out a defeated sigh. Then he turned to Tucker. "So how does the robot look?"

Tucker sighed, casting his green eyes to the floor. "It could be better. It got pretty messed up in the explosion. But we might be able to fix it up in time for the contest's deadline. But we also have to find a new teacher to oversee the club." He lifted his gaze and looked toward his friends. "I might have to spend a lot of time on the robot though."

"Jazz would probably remind you not to forget about doing your homework." Danny grinned as he closed his locker. "Don't worry about it though. We know that robot is important to you." Tucker returned the smile, seeming to relax. When the bell rang to signal the beginning of the school day, the three friends gave a mix of sighs and groans. Then they split up for class, promising to meet each other for lunch like usual.


	20. Chapter 20

"Well, that was a fun trip," Danny said as he stepped out of the hospital. Doctor Sagami, with his obnoxiously perfectly slicked back raven hair, thin rimmed glasses, and pencil thin mustache, wouldn't allow him to see Mr. Technus, though that didn't surprise Danny since they were only allowing family visits. He couldn't remember ever hearing anything about Mr. Technus having family, but the teacher must have some still living somewhere. Unfortunately for Tucker, Danny didn't get much information from Doctor Sagami beyond what they already knew: Mr. Technus was in a coma but his condition was stable.

Pulling out his phone, Danny checked the time and winced at how late in the afternoon it was. The ride to the hospital on the bus had taken longer than he thought, plus Doctor Sagami had left him waiting for a while before finally coming to speak with him. He huffed out a sigh, deciding it would be all right since his homework load for the night wasn't too bad. But he was glad he didn't have to worry about squeezing in a tutoring session with Elle or a training session. Sam had the family dinner to suffer through with the fake Hungarian Gregor, and Tucker stayed after school to hunt down a new teacher to oversee the robotics club to avoid having to disband it and forfeit entirely on participating in the contest. Danny guessed, though, that he could train on his own, but he was still digesting what the whole ghost thing meant. He stared at his hand and could almost see it change to the strange sickly pale green of the ghost form, even if he hadn't transformed.

The phone buzzed, jolting Danny from his thoughts. He pulled up the text message menu, and a small smile spread onto his face as he clicked to read the latest response.

' _Did I lose you to the stars?_ '

Shaking his head, Danny walked away from the hospital, heading for the nearest bus stop to catch a ride home.

' _Sorry about that. Got distracted by some things_.'

He barely got half way down the block before he received another message from D.

' _I guess I can forgive you. I had a job to do anyway, so had to go silent for a while_.'

Danny lifted an eyebrow as he stared at his phone. D had never mentioned having a job. Though, Danny realized, it had never come up in their prior conversations, which had revolved around mostly talking about video games they enjoyed and joking with each other.

' _Job? What kind of job do you have?_ '

' _Oh, this was just a little headhunting for a client. Ran into some trouble tracking down the guy the client wanted_.'

Danny's brow furrowed at the response, not entirely sure what the whole headhunter job entailed. This was his first time ever hearing someone say they worked as a headhunter, but he thought it was something corporations sometimes did for one reason or another. He hit to respond to D's text when a chilly breeze washed over the back of his neck, a sensation he was growing more accustomed to since the accident. After he slipped the phone back into his pocket, paying more attention to his surroundings ever since he nearly got flattened by the speeding car, Danny turned a quarter of the way around, snatching hold of the arm reaching out toward him. His hand squeezed around the wrist and gave it a hard twist as he grabbed hold of the man's throat with his free hand. Then he drove the man back until he was pinned against the wall of the nearest building.

His Aunt Alicia lived in Spittoon, Arkansas, and she didn't often leave her home to visit them. But there were rare occasions, usually once a year, when she would come up to Amity Park, and sometimes, they would go to visit her. His father didn't get along well with his aunt, who didn't seem to care much for men after her divorce over a decade ago. Danny could remember, from a young age, watching his mother and aunt spar against each other. His mother was a ninth degree black belt. Danny wasn't sure if his aunt had ever earned a belt in any martial arts style, but she could hold her own against her sister. From watching two strong fighters, Danny knew a few methods to disarm an attacker.

It took a moment, though, for it to register that the man had no weapon and wasn't even trying to fight against him. Danny loosened his hold on the man but remained cautious. He didn't know this man with his long neon blue hair. The roots were showing on top of his head, the natural blond chasing away the dye. His brown eyes were wide and slightly frightful after being shoved against the wall.

"Uh, sorry," Danny mumbled, taking a step back. He felt a little ashamed of his reaction when the man raised his hands like he was being held up at gun point.

"I didn't mean to spook you," the man said, managing to keep his voice calm. "Um, I saw you the other day, um, Saturday with that girl. Your sister?"

Danny puzzled over the words for a moment. He hadn't gone anywhere on Saturday with Jazz. After hanging out with his friends for lunch, the rest of his day was spent with Elle. "Oh!" His eyes widened a fraction. "You mean Elle? She's not my sister."

"Oh." The man's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry. You just looked so much alike, so I just assumed you were related."

Danny shook his head. "I just tutor her. Um," he rubbed at the back of his neck, "did you want something with me?"

"You were looking for people who might know something about what happened to Ember." The man's brown eyes slid off to the side as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "I might have, uh, followed you around for a while."

"Okay." Danny inched back a step, feeling a little disturbed to hear that. "And you did that why?"

"Because I might know something about Ember."

Danny nodded, but he wondered how reliable this man was as a source of information. On the other hand, they had no other leads to follow so it might be worth it to listen to what the man had to say. "If you know something, why didn't you talk to us on Saturday?"

"I'll be honest with you. My name is Kyle, and I stalk Ember." Kyle's mouth pursed slightly in thought as he ran a hand through his dyed hair. "I guess it started about a year and a half ago after the first time I went to a club and heard her play. There was just something that drew me to her, so I started following her. I just," he shrugged, "never got up the nerve to actually talk to her. I've been idolizing her for so long, it's kind of scary to think about taking that next step to approaching her."

"It's kind of creepy that you stalk her though. That's definitely not going to win you any points with her." Danny felt a little bad when the man frowned, lowering his gaze in shame to the sidewalk. Kyle seemed normal enough, other than the whole stalking thing. If he stopped with that, Kyle might be an okay man. "But you saw what happened to her?"

"Maybe. You see. Last Wednesday, I saw Ember hanging out with these weird guys. Guys I've never seen around her before. I was too far away to hear what they were saying. I didn't want them to spot me or something. But," Kyle reached into the back pocket of his jeans, "after they all left, this dropped out of Ember's bag. I'm not sure what it's about, but one of the guy's gave it to her before they left."

Danny took the card Kyle handed him. The top side reminded him somewhat of a tarot card. The sides were bordered with bones and the corners with decorative flowers all on a field of black. In the center of the card, a grinning skull was surrounded by flowers, and a flower grew out of each eye socket. If it was a club logo, Danny didn't recognize it, but he also didn't hang out much at the club scene. Perhaps Elle would have a better idea. He flipped it over to find white writing, an address from the looks of it. The time and date under it was for tonight.

"You weren't stalking after me, were you?" Danny frowned at the man.

"No, no!" Kyle shook his head quickly. "Well, just from the bus stop when I spotted you earlier, but then you went into the hospital, so I waited until you came out to approach you."

"Try not to make it a habit of stalking people. It's kind of creepy." Danny stared at the design on the top side of the card. He didn't like the whole death motif it had.

"Do you think you can find Ember?" Kyle wore a hopeful expression pleading Danny for a positive response.

"I'm going to try my best to find her." Danny could see his response brought some relief to the man, but his real reason for being determined to find Ember was for Elle's benefit. He hated seeing Elle worrying so much about her friend. "Um, thanks for the tip." He held up the card then slipped it into his pocket. "Hopefully I can find out something about it."

"Thanks." Kyle bobbed his head, a faint smile growing upon his face. "Really. If you find her, thanks."

"Uh, yeah, no prob, man." Danny wasn't sure what else to say. How could he even be sure this man was telling him the truth? It could all be some sort of set up, but Danny decided he would check it out, in case it held a clue for Ember's whereabouts. "I should probably head off though. Stuff to do, you know."

"Right. I've got homework and other stuff." Kyle tossed him a wave before heading off down the street.

Danny watched him until Kyle turned the corner at the end of the block. At the idea of the man stalking after him, he shuddered and kept checking over his shoulder as he walked toward the bus stop. He hoped Kyle would give up his stalker ways after this. The bus arrived ten minutes after Danny reached the stop. Once he was seated in the back of the bus, Danny dug out his phone. Should he call Elle and inform her about this clue? He shook his head after some internal debate. He didn't want to get her hopes up if it turned out to be nothing.

The phone buzzed, and Danny jumped. Thankfully, not many other people were on the bus to witness his reaction. For a moment, he thought it would be Elle, somehow knowing he had a possible lead on Ember's whereabouts. But the notion sounded silly, and when he checked, he found a message was from D.

' _Did I scare you off? Because that was a joke. Totally talking about a game with the headhunting thing_.'

The corner of his mouth curled in a small smile. Danny debated his response, but D deserved some sort of explanation. After all, this was the second time something had interrupted them while they were chatting through texts.

' _Sorry! Sorry! Ran into someone and had to chat_.'

' _Should I be jealous?_ '

Danny bit his lower lip as he typed back his reply.

' _No, no, nothing to be jealous about. It was just about a project_.'

' _Ah. Relating to why u said u'd be busy?_ '

' _Yeah_.' Danny frowned because when he told D he would be too busy to play against him the game, he had no idea he would be spending time trying to track down a missing musician. ' _I can't wait for it all to be over though. Then I can kick back and relax_.' The end of the school year seemed so far away.

' _I know what you mean. I can't wait for this job to be over with_.'

Danny stared at the phone screen. The mention of a job reminded him that they hadn't talked a lot outside their little comfort zone of conversation topics.

' _Hey, tell me something about yourself. Like, idk, what's your favorite color? Or do you have any pets?_ '

' _Eh? Scraping the bottom of the barrel for those kumquats?_ '

' _What?_ '

' _Argh! Stupid auto-carrot. Water u doing?_ '

A snort of a laugh escaped him, and Danny's face burned when he noticed a handful of the few people on the bus turn to give him the stink eye for making a sound.

' _Having some trouble typing? Are your fingers too big for the buttons?_ '

' _They're not the only thing that's big. ;)_ '

Danny nearly choked and hoped D didn't mean what he thought he did. At that moment, he was thankful D couldn't see him because he was certain his blush had darkened a few more shades.

' _Don't try to get around the question!_ '

' _The answers aren't that interesting though. Favorite color? Boooooooring! I was never allowed to have pets. Not sure why_.'

Danny continued chatting with D until he reached his stop to get off the bus. According to the card Ember's stalker gave him, the meeting time wasn't until eleven, so even though he would have to head back downtown later, he planned to get home and do all his homework. Since his work load tonight wasn't too bad, he knew he could get it all done before leaving to see what this secret rendezvous was about. Already, the sky turned gray, and the air smelled of a coming rainstorm. Danny shivered as he unlocked the front door. It hadn't stormed since his accident in the laboratory, but the thought of lightning already made his heart stutter with panic.

"You're coming home pretty late."

Danny paused in the doorway to the front room. "Oh, not holed up in your room studying?" He grinned as he walked over to the couch and dropped down next to his sister. "Is this the first sign of the apocalypse? Should I be practicing my zombie killing methods?"

"Oh, shut up!" Jazz gave him a shove, which earned a laugh from her brother. "So you ended up going to the hospital after all? What did they say about Mr. Technus?"

"Basically what we already know. Oh, but that reminds me!" Danny dug his phone out of his pocket. "I should tell Tucker about my visit."

"I'm surprised that wasn't the first thing you thought of doing when you left." Jazz lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Um," Danny cringed with a weak smile, "I got distracted." He shrank away under the hard glare from his sister. "Oh, look. Homework. I should do that." He finished typing his text and sent it to Tucker. Jazz rolled her eyes at him before they both settled into a comfortable silence while they worked on their homework.


	21. Chapter 21

"You're going out now?" Danny frowned as his sister pulled on her coat. Admittedly, he planned on leaving now to make it to the meeting place on the card so he would arrive before the time listed. Their parents had gone to the laboratory after washing up the dinner dishes to work on a few projects before calling it a night. Danny had expected his sister to go to her room to study, giving him the perfect opportunity to sneak out and avoid any awkward questions about where he was going.

"I promised to tutor Dash tonight."

Danny's brow creased when he heard the answer. "But didn't you do that after school?"

Jazz paused at the front door then turned to face her brother. "No, Dash was busy after school so we planned to meet later."

"Isn't it kind of late for a tutor session?" Danny folded his arms, lifting his eyebrows in a curious expression, as he leaned against the wall by the stairs.

"Like I said. Dash was busy after school. This is when he was available to meet for tutoring." Jazz placed her hands on her hips as she gave him her usual stern stare. "And have you finished all of your homework?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You don't have to keep asking me. I'm perfectly capable of getting all my homework done without you hovering over me to make sure I didn't miss anything."

"All right." Jazz held up her hands in surrender, but she smiled a little. "Don't stay up late playing video games though."

"With how Dash has a major crush on you, are you sure this isn't some lame setup by him to turn this tutor session into a date?" Danny wouldn't be surprised if Dash actually came up with an idea like that, though he would bet Kwan had a hand in suggesting the whole thing.

"I think I'm perfectly capable of making sure a guy knows it's not a date. And if Dash tries anything," Jazz clapped one hand over a bicep and punched the other fist into the air, "he'll regret it."

Danny laughed. "Okay. I'm sorry. I forgot how much your headlocks hurt."

"Come over here, and I'll give you a reminder."

Danny backed up a step, holding his hands out before him. "I remember just fine without a demonstration."

Jazz grinned as she lowered her arms. "Good. Then I'll see you later." She turned and opened the front door then left.

_I'd still be worried about this whole late night tutoring with Dash if I thought he had any chance with Jazz_ , Danny thought with a shake of his head. He walked into the front room like he was going to play video games, but he simply wanted to be able to watch Jazz leave from the window. Once she was gone, he would sneak off to the meeting place. _Too bad I didn't get the ability to fly too. That would be so handy for this_. He had checked the bus schedule earlier, and the nearest one that would take him downtown was still twenty minutes away.

Thunder boomed overhead.

Danny jumped to his feet, his heart beating fast in his chest. "Just had to storm tonight, huh?" He raked a shaky hand through his hair. The thunder wasn't what bothered him. It was the lightning he knew would come with it. He hadn't caught any flashes yet, but according to the weather woman tonight, they could expect to see some lightning. "I'm going to be as bad as Tucker with hospitals if I don't just face this problem."

After he took a deep breath to compose himself, Danny headed for the front door. His parents would probably be in the laboratory for the rest of the night, so Danny wasn't worried about them catching him out past curfew. He just had to hope he made it back home before Jazz did.

Locking the door behind him when he left, Danny jogged down the street toward the bus stop. He had allowed for some extra time so even with Jazz stalling him, he would be able to reach the stop before the bus arrived. Once he was on the bus, which was virtually empty at that late hour, he pulled out the card from his pocket. A skull and flowers? It still seemed like a strange logo to him. Maybe it had some sort of rock or punk meaning to it that he simply didn't understand? Turning it over, he stared at the address. He had programmed it into his phone for directions, but he didn't recognize the location that came up.

What was this all about? Who were the men who met up with Ember anyway? Danny lifted his head slightly and frowned. He had forgotten to ask Kyle what the men even looked like. He couldn't do anything about that now. He didn't even have a way to contact Kyle, another thing he had overlooked. Next time he would have to be smarter about those kinds of things. _Not that I want there to_ be _a next time_ , he thought as he shoved the card back into his pocket.

The bus arrived at a stop downtown near the location on the card with little event, but the thunder continued to rumble overhead. Danny hunched up his shoulders as he walked the dark streets. He passed by a club along the way, and despite it being a week night, he saw a line of people in their early twenties waiting to get inside as loud music could be heard from outside. None of them paid him any mind as he crossed the street away from the club and rounded the corner. He checked the directions on his phone. If he walked up three more blocks and turned right then walked another five blocks, he would arrive at the mystery location.

When he got within a block of the location, Danny moved to the shadows, glad he had thought to wear darker clothing for this. He arrived earlier than the time on the card by a few minutes, but he remained cautious in case the people meeting here were early rather than late. The street was clear of anyone, but if he was meeting some creepy men under suspicious circumstances, he probably wouldn't meet them right out front of the location on the card. Danny paused just to the side of the building and craned his head upward to stare at it.

The doors bore the logo of Dalv Pharmaceuticals. Danny puzzled over that detail. The name wasn't one he recognized, certainly not as big a company as the Manson's company. But it seemed like an odd meeting place for a musician. Danny would have expected Ember to use something more like the club he passed on the way here as a meeting spot. Why would two men want to meet Ember here? But the logo on the doors didn't match the picture on the card, which was only another mystery for Danny to solve.

The crunch of wheels pulled him from the headache of trying to understand why Ember would be here, and Danny ducked into the alley between Dalv Pharmaceuticals and the building next door to avoid being seen. When the car passed by without stopping, he released the breath he was holding.

"Okay," Danny mumbled to himself as the first drops of rain fell upon his head. "If I were meeting some weird guys that approached with a death card, would I really be meeting them out front?" Something told him no, especially when he considered the idea that they weren't here to buy anything. The news stories about the robberies popped into his mind, and Danny turned his gaze down the alley toward the back of the buildings. "Nope. I'd meet them back there."

The rain came down as a light drizzle. Lightning streaked through the sky in the distance, and Danny managed to count to thirteen as he walked before the thunder rumbled, something to focus on rather than the panic building in his chest. He squeezed his hands into tight fists, his nails biting into his palms. He wanted to say he was over the trauma of being electrocuted in his parents' machine, but he wasn't. Logically, he knew that flash of lightning was miles and miles away from him and he had no reason to be scared. But from the first instant it lit up the sky, Danny felt a tremble seize his body and refuse to let go of him.

"Just go already!"

Danny halted at the edge of the building. He didn't recognize the voice, and he doubted it was Ember since the voice sounded rather masculine. Could it be one of the men who approached Ember?

"Will just listen to me for a minute?"

Danny's jaw practically hit the ground. His surprise drove back the fear and panic even as another streak of lightning shot through the dark clouds overhead. What was Jazz doing here? She was supposed to be tutoring Dash right now. Danny jerked back a step as it struck him: Jazz lied to him!

"You don't get it!" the man shouted back. "I don't _want_ to listen."

Shaking out of his shock, Danny pushed away from the wall and rounded the corner. "Hey!" he shouted to get their attention. The man wasn't someone that stood out in Danny's mind. The rain was already ruining his uneven Mohawk, and he had tattoos snaking up his neck, the only ones Danny could see with the leather jacket the man wore. He seemed like he might fit in with the Goth crowd Sam sometimes liked to hang out with over at the Skulk and Lurk bookstore.

Jazz spun around with her aqua colored eyes wide. "Danny! What are you doing here?"

"I came here to - Hey!" Danny's mouth pursed as he narrowed his eyes at his sister. "Don't turn this around on me. You lied about tutoring. What are _you_ doing here?"

"I'm trying to talk to Spike-"

"I don't need you to help me," the man shouted. "Both of you need to get out of here. Now!"

"Spike, if you would just let me talk," Jazz pleaded.

"Jazz, why would you lie to me?" Danny could ignore not knowing what this was all about, but it hurt to know his sister lied to him.

"Danny, I just wanted-"

The flash of lightning and quickly following boom of thunder surprised him. Danny jumped back with a fearful gasp as his heart hammered in his chest. Jazz's brow creased with concern, and she reached out a hand toward him, but Danny jerked away from her grasp.

"Danny, what's going on?" Some of the concern faded from Jazz's expression as anger flickered in her eyes. "And don't play dumb with me. I can tell when something's up. You and your friends have been whispering about something, and you might think you're being secretive, but you're not. It's so painfully obvious. And now you're jumping at a bit of thunder? Danny, you've never been scared of thunder."

Danny flinched, mostly because his sister had hit the nail on the head with him keeping secrets from her. "You're going to turn this around on me when you were keeping secrets too?"

"This seems like a conversation you two should have, alone, somewhere else," the man suggested. "Perhaps over coffee. I'm pretty sure there's a coffee shop just a few blocks away."

"Danny, if you just give me one minute-"

"No." Danny shook his head. He doubted Ember would turn up at this point if she hadn't come already. Even if Ember and the two men _did_ show up, they would probably be frightened off by their arguing. "Friend's not coming, so this was a waste of time. I might as well just go home." He realized he was being childish. He and Jazz were equals in their lies to each other. The difference was that even if he felt like he was ready to talk to Jazz about his accident and the results of it, Danny wasn't going to say anything in front of a complete stranger. "I'll see you whenever you get home."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Danny turned to walk back the way he came. Jazz called out to stop him, but she was torn between chasing after him and dealing with the man who seemed eager to get rid of them. And what was the deal with that man anyway? Why did Jazz want to meet up with him? Why were they meeting at some pharmaceutical company? Danny rubbed at his forehead as he walked through the alley back toward the street. All these questions without answers were giving him a headache, and he was still no closer to discovering what happened to Ember.

The rain came down harder as he neared the street. Thunder rumbled, but thankfully no lightning struck again. Danny glance toward the sky, half expecting to see a bolt of lightning racing down in a jaggy line toward him. His heart gave a hiccup, and he shuddered. He kept his mind focused on getting home where he could drown out the sounds of the storm with his headphones. Because if he didn't have something to concentrate his thoughts on, the times lightning flashed through the sky would render him unable to take another step out of the overwhelming memory of being trapped in the machine and struck a million times over by electricity.

A chill wrapped around him, drawing out a gasp. His feet felt glued to the spot, and the sensation of ice crawled over his heart like frost gathering over a window pane. He had grown accustomed to the small chills creeping up his spine when something was about to happen, usually Dash or one of the other jocks wanting to rough him up a bit in the name of bullying. But this feeling, this overwhelming sense of dread, reminded him too much of what he felt right before the explosion at the football game. Was something like that about to happen again? 

_BANG!_

Danny's heart leapt into his throat as his eyes grew wide. He couldn't breathe, like the gunshot had punched him right in his gut and knocked out all the air in him. The heavy raindrops felt like pellets of hail striking at him. Footsteps pounding against the wet ground of the alley was muffled by the downpour. But it was the ringing of the gunshot still in his head that prevented him from acknowledging the approaching person until said person slammed into his shoulder.

It was like watching one of those old black and white movies. All color had washed away. Then the man with the Mohawk stumbled past him, and Danny caught a splattering of a red upon the man's leather jacket. Red? Blood? Jazz! Danny twisted around and sprinted back down the alley. His feet slipped and slid beneath him, and he nearly dove face first into the hard pavement more than a few times before he reached the end of the alley and turned the corner. His legs trembled beneath him as he stumbled over to where the body laid on the ground.

"Jazz," Danny said in a broken voice, his chest feeling so tight his lung could barely draw a breath. He dropped to his knees and circled his arms around his sister's body, pressing his hands to the wound to help stop the bleeding from her abdomen. "Jazz! Oh sh-" Panic ate at him as he watched the dark blood mixing with the rain washing over his hands. He couldn't make the bleeding stop!

"Dan-" Jazz's voice was barely a croak as her eyes opened, her brow a deep furrow. She stared up at him, and Danny's eyes burned with tears.

"It's okay. It's going to be okay." Danny wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure his sister or himself. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone, quickly dialing 911. "My sister's been shot," he said in a rush the second someone had answered the call. "We're behind Dalv Pharmaceuticals on Madison Avenue, and she's bleeding out a lot. Please hurry!"

"I'm s-sorry." Jazz closed her eyes, her face twisting in a painful grimace. "For keeping s-secrets."

Danny shook his head. "I was keeping secrets too. I shouldn't have, but I just didn't know how to tell you."

Jazz wore a watery smile as she laughed, which turned into a cough that made her brother wince. "I figured you would tell me when you were ready. You always did. Danny," she opened her eyes again and stared like she was searching for something in her brother's eyes, "I - I know you're going to become a really great man." She reached up and touched a bloody hand to Danny's cheek. "I'm really proud to be your sister."

His phone clattered upon the ground as Danny took his sister's hand. "I'm the one who should be proud to be your brother." He blinked away the tears blurring his vision. "Just hang on, okay? The ambulance should be here any minute. Just-" His voice hitched, and he struggled to get the words past the lump forming in his throat. "Just stay with me. I promise I'll tell you everything. So just - Just stay!" Danny squeezed Jazz's hand tightly, but there was no response.


	22. Chapter 22

What happened after was a blur, and Danny barely acknowledged what was going on around him. The sirens of the ambulance were a dull ringing in his ears. Questions were asked as the paramedics pulled Jazz free from his hold. But Danny couldn't seem to piece together anything they were saying, like the ability to understand words had fallen out of his head.

Then he was at the hospital. Danny couldn't remember even moving from the spot behind Dalv Pharmaceuticals, but apparently, the paramedics had coaxed him to get up and join them in the ambulance. Once they got to the hospital, someone was kind enough to give him a clean pair of scrubs so he wouldn't be sitting around in his wet clothes, which were in a plastic bag beside him. Nothing seemed real to him. His whole body felt numb, but he wasn't sure if that was an after effect of what happened or from being in the icy rain for as long as he was.

Reality came crashing back down on him, though, when his parents arrived, drawing him into hugs. Then the doctor met with them, and Danny thought for sure this was some big elaborate joke because it couldn't be real. Jazz was dead. Danny felt winded again, a thousand knives seeming to pierce his lungs with each shaky, ragged breath. His mother sobbed into his father's chest, and his father merely nodded to what the doctor said. Danny could see his father was trying to stay strong, to keep from breaking down too so he could comfort his wife.

"Danny, it's important that you tell us what happened."

Danny lifted his head and found Police Chief Gray kneeling before him. Why was the Chief of Police here? His sister was murdered, that thought weighed heavily on his mind, making his brain feel sluggish. But he didn't understand why the Police Chief would be involved in a murder. Didn't he usually only work bigger cases?

"Why were you at Dalv Pharmaceuticals tonight?" Police Chief Gray had a pad of paper out and ready for taking down notes while he questioned Danny.

"Maybe you can do this later," his father suggested with a troubled crease in his brow. "We just lost our daughter. I think questioning our son can wait."

"I apologize if I seem insensitive, but it's usually best to question witnesses while things are still fresh in their minds." Police Chief Gray had probably dealt with situations like this in the past. Danny knew, somewhere in his head, that the man had a point. If they waited to question him, Danny might forget details or remember things wrong. It made the most sense to ask him while everything was still vivid in his mind.

"I went there to look for someone," Danny explained in a dull voice. "I don't know why Jazz was there."

"To look for someone?" Police Chief Gray repeated, his mouth thinning into a frown.

"What do you mean?" his mother demanded as she wiped tears from her eyes. "Couldn't you wait until it was day? Why did you have to go looking for someone at night?"

"I didn't know this was going to happen!" Danny shouted, anger bubbling under the surface of his grief. He wasn't angry with his parents though. He was angry with himself. He had these stupid ghost powers, but they did nothing to help him save his sister when she needed him most. Dropping his head in this hands, he fought the tears burning in his eyes. Jazz said she was proud to be his sister. But what had he ever done to make her proud? Danny choked back a sob, fingers tangling in his raven locks. "I only went there because I thought maybe Ember would turn up there!"

"Ember? That's the teen singer that's gone missing recently, isn't it?" Police Chief Gray tapped at his pad with his pen. "What made you think Ember would show up Dalv Pharmaceuticals tonight?"

"Someone," Danny couldn't keep the tremble out of his voice as he blinked hot tears from his eyes, "told me they saw Ember talking with some men before and she dropped a card they gave her. It had Dalv Pharmaceuticals' address on it saying to meet tonight at eleven. Instead of finding Ember, I ran into Jazz."

"Why would Jazz be there?" his mother questioned, and when he lifted his head, Danny could see the tears streaked down her face. It hurt to see his parents in so much pain.

"I don't know." Danny shook his head. "I really don't have any idea why she was there."

"Danny, was there anyone else present at the time? Or was it just you and your sister?" Police Chief Gray rested a hand on Danny's shoulder, but it offered the teenager little comfort.

"No, there was a guy there. But I wasn't really paying attention to him." Danny replayed everything that happened tonight, but he had a difficult time trying to picture the man.

"Is there anything at all that you can remember about this man? Any little detail might help us track him down." Police Chief Gray waited at the ready to take down description details. "You mentioned you didn't see what happened when your sister was shot. This man might have seen who did it."

"Or he could have been the shooter," his father added blunted, an edge of rage in his voice Danny wasn't used to hearing.

Danny lowered his gaze, feeling even more like a failure to his sister. He _needed_ to remember the man that was with his sister. He couldn't allow his sister's killer to walk free. Biting down hard on his lower lip, Danny fought through his memories, trying to put together an image of the man. "I think he had tattoos on his neck, but I couldn't really make out what they were. And he sort of had a Mohawk, though the rain was ruining the look."

Police Chief Gray frowned as he wrote down the details. "That's a vague description."

"I'm sorry. I'm trying! But I just can't remember anything else." Danny's shoulders sagged in defeat.

"It's okay." Police Chief Gray patted him on the shoulder. "Things happen too fast sometimes for us to fully process all the details. You're doing the best you can, and that's all I, or anyone else, can ask of you. So don't be too hard on yourself." He stood up, pocketing his notepad and pen. "If you remember anything else though, please do contact the police. We'll do everything we can to find your sister's killer and bring them to justice."

Danny merely nodded in response as Police Chief Gray pulled his parents aside to talk to them privately for a moment. When the doctor let them see Jazz, Danny couldn't bring himself to get up from the plastic chair in the hall. He failed to protect his sister. He fought himself not to curl up in a ball right there and cry like a pathetic loser. The car ride home was silent with a grim cloud of sorrow hanging over them.

His parents allowed him to stay home from school until he felt ready to return. But after a day of watching his parents make plans for the funeral and listening to his mother talk, mostly cry, on the phone to his aunt, Danny had to get out of the house. He needed to focus his mind on something other than Jazz's death, or he knew he would break down crying, again, like he had after they got home from the hospital.

"Are you sure?" his mother had asked before he left the house. "It's okay if you want to stay home another day."

"I'm fine," Danny mumbled before closing the door behind him. Jazz wouldn't want him to slack off on his studies, he tried to convince himself. Education had always been important to her. But he was scared of what lay ahead of him at school. By now, everyone must have heard about what happened. Maybe not the full details, but they certainly would have heard word about Jazz's death. He almost turned around to find someplace to hide out for the day, but he forced himself to continue to the school.

The doors to school looked more intimidating to him than on his first day of high school. Danny didn't want to see the looks people would give him. He didn't want their empty sympathies. But he would have to face them eventually. Taking a deep breath, he yanked open the front doors of the school and entered the building. The first people to see him fell silent, watching like they were waiting for him to break down into a blubbering baby curling up in the fetus position in the middle of the hall while he cried in anguish. Danny set his jaw and continued down the hall toward his locker.

"Danny!" His friends nearly knocked him over when they saw him and rushed over to hug him. Some of the tension relaxed out of him in that moment, and he hated himself for taking comfort in his friends because he didn't deserve it when he had done nothing to save his sister.

"Are you sure you should be back at school?" Sam asked, squeezing his arm as she frowned. "I mean, after-" She had trouble getting the words out.

"Yeah, I'm - Yeah." Danny nodded his head. When he managed to pull away from his friends, he opened his locker to get his books for class. "So what did I miss? Any big homework projects or tests I need to make up?"

"Danny, shouldn't you-"

"Well, look who decided to show up today."

Danny ground his teeth at the sound of Dash's obnoxious voice. The last thing he needed to deal with today was Dash being a big time bully to him. "Not now, Dash," he muttered as he slammed the locker closed.

"Leave him alone, Dash," Sam ordered, folding her arms as she glared at the jock.

"Yeah!" Tucker joined in. "Can't you give him a break? His sister just died."

"Let's just go to class." Danny nudged his friends to start walking down the hall and away from the jock. He barely got a step past the blond blockhead before Dash grabbed hold of his arm. Anger flared through him. Danny twisted around with his free arm pulled back and his hand closed into a tight fist. A strong arm caught him around the waist and yanked him back before he could deal a blow to the surprised jock. He blinked in confusion, knowing neither of his friends would be strong enough to hold him back, especially while he was angry.

"Your parents are already dealing with the death of your sister," Lancer said in a calm, quiet voice close to Danny's ear. "Do you really want to add your expulsion from school to their list of troubles?"

Danny relaxed, the rage melting out of him. "No," he mumbled in defeat. His parents were already hurting enough without him adding disappointment to the list.

"Good." Lancer released his hold on Danny. "Now then, I think-"

"You must be Daniel Fenton," Ms. Spectra said, and Danny flinched at her voice and again when she placed a hand on his shoulder. He hadn't even noticed her arrival in the hall. "I heard what happened, and I," she touched her other hand to her chest, "am here to listen to you."

"I don't-" Danny said, anger rising into his voice, but he stopped when Lancer gave him a nudge in the back and a sharp, green eyed glare telling him to be polite, even if the teacher didn't approve of the counselor. "I mean, I'm not ready to talk about things yet," he forced out through gritted teeth.

Even if he was ready to talk to someone about his sister's death, he wouldn't choose Ms. Spectra. He would seek Lancer out after school because he trusted his teacher far more than this new counselor, who he was fairly certain was glaring daggers at Lancer from behind her glasses. That look only made Danny even more certain that he didn't want to speak with Ms. Spectra, about anything.

"Come on." Danny grabbed his friends' hands. "Let's go."

"Danny," Sam spoke up when they were farther down the hall, "is it true? Were you there when - When Jazz-"

"I'd really rather not talk about-" Danny froze in the middle of the hall. Ahead of them, he spotted a group of teenagers, some dressed in leather jackets and some with punkish styled hair. One woman had vibrant neon green hair, and a man with shoulder length blond hair had his arm thrown over her shoulders as they talked with their friends. No one in the group was familiar to him, but simply seeing them with their wild hairstyles and style of clothing brought the memory of Monday night back to the forefront of his mind.

"What's wrong?" Tucker's brow wrinkled with concern for his friend.

Danny shook his head. "It's just - I remembered the guy that was there that night. I wasn't really paying attention, and I don't know who he is. But I've seen him before. My sister was chasing after him in the hall. He goes to our school." His hands curled into fists, and his nails bit into his palms, his knuckles aching from how tightly he clenched his fists.

"Danny." Sam placed herself before him, worry written in her expression. "What are you planning?"

"Obviously, I'm going to track down that guy," Danny snapped back, flecks of green appearing before his eyes.

"And do _what_?" Sam demanded, nearly shouted, drawing a few eyes of passing students. She stood at the ready to hold him back if she needed to, and if this was before he got his ghost powers, Danny knew she could do it. But now he had strength and the ability to turn intangible on his side. If they weren't standing in the middle of the crowded hall, Sam wouldn't be able to stop him from hunting down the man Danny saw Jazz with that night.

"Danny," Tucker whispered urgently, tugging on his friend's arm as he glanced around in panic, "your eyes."

Blinking, Danny realized he hadn't even noticed when his eyes shifted. He relaxed, somewhat, as his gaze wandered around the hall and he focused on what he was seeing. It reminded him of the night of the explosion at school. He saw little green blobs all around him, but now they looked like more than simple spots from afar. Many of them still had no shape, but others looked like tiny cats and bunnies. One even appeared to be a mini octopus. Danny almost couldn't believe the sight. Closing his eyes, he took a calming breath, feeling his eyes return to normal.

"Sorry," Danny said as he opened his eyes. The ghostly green blobs and animals had vanished. "I'm okay now." He wanted to tell his friends about it, but he couldn't sprout out stuff about ghosts and his powers in the middle of the school hall. This new bit of information would have to wait until he could catch his friends alone.

"We know this hard on you." Sam squeezed his arm.

"Yeah, but don't forget you have us," Tucker said as he patted Danny's shoulder. "You're not alone."

Danny threw his arms around his friends and drew them into a hug as the morning bell rang. "Thanks."


	23. Chapter 23

Danny felt anxious as he walked through the doorway into his first class. School seemed unimportant when he had his sister's killer to hunt down. His hands clenched at his sides as he headed for his seat. Right now, Jazz's killer could be sitting down in class like nothing had even happened and thinking he got away with it. Why didn't he do anything when the man ran past him in the alley? He could have grabbed him, knocked him out, or something. But hearing the gunshot had left him too in shock to respond to anything.

When he sat down, Danny's brow furrowed as he stared at the folded piece of paper on his desk. The appearance of the note confused him even more when he flipped it open to read the familiar, almost illegible, handwriting belonging to the jock sitting next to him and currently staring a little too intently at the front of the classroom. He shot a glance toward Dash but was ignored. What happened earlier in the hall was another reason he felt anxious about coming to class. Dash might have toned down the bullying recently. But how was he going to respond to Danny attempting to punch him? Danny swallowed thickly, reading over the note again. He had a bad feeling about Dash telling him to hang back after class.

Concentrating on class was virtually impossible for him with both Dash and the killer on his mind. His gaze kept flicking to the clock, and his foot shook impatiently as the time refused to pass any faster. Mr. Green droned on, his voice so dull he put much of the class to sleep. The bell ringing at the end of class was the only thing to wake everyone up as they rushed to gather up their things and hurry to their next class before the late bell.

He was ready to follow after everyone else, but when he caught a sharp glare from Dash, Danny hung back, tensing for whatever beating Dash had planned. His jaw set hard as he eyed the jock warily. Dash stood between him and the door. If he had to, Danny was pretty sure his ghost enhanced strength would give him the winning advantage in a fight, if he dared to use it. But did he want to risk it if he lost control and threw a harder punch than he meant to? If he could dent his metal door handle, he could probably do some serious damage to Dash.

"Do we have to do this?" Danny demanded, his mouth pursing and his eyes narrowing.

"You were going to punch me earlier." Dash folded his arms, looking like some kind of bouncer at a club who was refusing to let the loser nerd inside. His expression was grim, which didn't give Danny any good feelings about this meeting. "It felt good, didn't it? Putting all the hurt into anger and wanting to release it with your fists?"

Danny shifted his weight, watching for any hint of Dash going on the attack. "What is it that you want, Dash?" If he was going to have to wait until the end of school to search for Jazz's killer, then he should at least show up to his classes without being several minutes late.

Dash sighed, dropping his arms to his sides. "I overheard you chatting with your friends."

"What?" Danny paled, panic settling in and pushing out the annoyance and worry. How much had Dash heard? Wait. Had he and his friends let anything slip about his powers? Danny thought back to the conversation earlier in the hall, but he couldn't remember if they said anything outright about his powers.

"You said you thought Jazz's killer was someone who went to our school."

His mouth pulled downward as Danny debated how much he should tell Dash. "Yeah," he said with some uncertainty, "some punk looking guy. Mohawk," he made a gesture with one hand over his head to indicate a Mohawk, "and tattoos. But I don't know who he is."

Dash nodded, an oddly thoughtful look crossing his face. "If I had to make a guess, I would say you're talking about Spike."

Danny stared, his mouth nearly dropping open. "That - That's it! Jazz called him Spike that night!" How could he have forgotten that? But a lot of details about that night were foggy in his head. Only Dash saying the name had reminded Danny of the name Jazz mentioned.

Dash hardly looked surprised by Danny's exclamation. "I don't really know what was going on between them, but I saw Jazz with him a few times around school. They seemed to be arguing whenever I saw them together. I don't know much about the guy other than his name is Spike."

"Okay." Danny nodded, flicking his gaze over Dash. "Uh, so, is that all you wanted to talk to me about?" He saw Dash's jaw clench, a flicker of anger blazing in his dark blue eyes, and Danny tensed, expecting Dash to yell at him and wail on him like the jock had done in the past, but he only felt a faint chill prickling the back of his neck.

"I'm not good with this whole stuff," Dash explained. "But Kwan could probably figure it out. I'll tell him to talk to you if he can figure out where exactly to find this guy." The jock shouldered his bag and turned to classroom door.

"Wait. What?" Danny stumbled a step, struggling to digest what just happened. Dash _wasn't_ going to beat him up for trying to punch him earlier? "That's all? I was going to punch you."

Dash shrugged. "I can't really blame you. Sometimes hitting something is the only real outlet you can find." Without any further explanation, the jock walked out of the classroom, leaving Danny rather dumbfounded and confused.

But Danny didn't have the time to stand around puzzling over what happened between him and Dash. He had to hurry to his next class or he would be late. The talk with Dash had already delayed him enough that he would be cutting it close. Rushing out of the classroom, Danny jogged down the hall for his next class. When he turned the corner, he nearly rammed right into another person but managed to catch himself in time.

"Sorry," Danny said quickly as he skirted around the short man standing outside the counselor's office. Continuing down the hall, he frowned in thought, certain he didn't recognized the mustached man. He reached his next class seconds before the late bell rang and breathed a sigh of relief as he took his seat and settled in for the long wait until lunch.

"I need to tell you both something," Danny said, catching his friends before they could head toward the cafeteria for lunch. Waiting for classes to end had felt endless, and Danny almost couldn't sit through all of them. His leg would bounce anxiously, and the people sitting closest to him kept shooting him dirty looks. But now he finally had the opportunity to drag his friends off to a quiet spot in the school and tell them about what he saw earlier.

"What is it, Danny?" Sam asked, but he shook his head. When Danny headed down the hall, his friends followed him in silence.

Danny waited until they found a quiet corner in the library hidden behind the bookshelves and well removed from the crowd usually hanging out in the library. He and his friends sat down on the floor and leaned in close to whisper to one another. After taking a breath to collect his thoughts, Danny spoke.

"Something weird happened earlier." He glanced between his friends, both waiting expectantly for him to continue. "When my eyes shifted in the hall, I saw something. Well, quite a few somethings."

"Sounding a little creepy," Tucker said with a wary look in his green eyes.

"What exactly did you see?" Sam's brow creased, but her violet eyes were focused in that way she had when she was studying and trying to absorb all the information into her brain.

"Well," Danny frowned, scratching the back of his head, "they kind of looked like blobs, though some of them had animal forms. I think they were ghosts." He held up a hand before his friends could respond. "I saw them before when the explosion happened. Except then, I was too far away to really see anything other than specks in the sky."

"We didn't see anything," Tucker blurted out.

"My eyes were shifted both times it happened," Danny explained, "but when they went back to normal, I couldn't see the ghosts anymore."

"So," Sam sat up a bit straighter, frowning in thought as she held her chin in one hand, "ghosts exist, but on a spectrum normal people can't see. And since Danny has these ghost powers, when he turns ghost, he's able to see this spectrum that's invisible to us so he's able to see the ghosts."

"That's what I was thinking too." Danny nodded, almost wanting to spill this new information to his parents.

But then he would have to explain how he came to discover this bit of information, which he wasn't exactly ready to do. But knowing ghosts existed on a spectrum invisible to human eyes would have a huge impact on his parents' work. If they could figure out a way to see the spectrum on which ghosts were visible, then they could find ghosts on their own, and wouldn't need to keep working on the machine to break open a portal to the realm where ghosts resided. Could that be the reason it didn't work? Other than the fact that Danny was _in_ the machine when it was turned on, it might have failed to open a portal because ghosts didn't exist in an alternate dimension.

With a frown, Danny looked at his friends. "My eyes didn't shift when Jazz-" His throat squeezed tight, refusing to say it. He shook his head. "What - What if Jazz turned into a ghost? What if she was there and I missed my chance to see her?" The ache in his chest grew, and he fought back the burning sensation of coming tears. Maybe if he returned to that spot and used his powers, he would be able to find Jazz.

"Yeah, but-" Tucker frowned as he glanced toward Sam for help.

"Danny, there's no guarantee that a person becomes a ghost when they die, is there?" Sam had that cute little furrow in her brow, but her eyes were filled with worry.

"Yeah," Danny mumbled, his shoulders sagging in defeat. It was a pathetic hope, but he just - He wanted to see his sister one last time, tell her everything he didn't get a chance to say while she was still alive.

"It - It would be really great if Jazz was still here," Sam said, struggling to find the right thing to say to comfort her friend. "But I don't think Jazz would want you to spend your life searching for her ghost, especially if she," Sam hesitated, "didn't become a ghost when she died."

Danny knew Sam had a point. He could waste his entire life trying to find Jazz's ghost, but he would never find her if she had passed over, or whatever happened when a person died, instead of becoming a ghost. "You're right," he said with a sigh. "But what I _should_ be searching for is her killer." His mouth pressed into a grim line as he stared at his friends with determination in his blue eyes. "I'm not going to let this guy get away with it." His fierce determination to bring his sister's killer to justice was ruined by the growl from his stomach.

"But before that, lunch," Tucker said, sitting back as he raised a finger. "Because you can't hunt down killers on an empty stomach."

The three friends stood and headed out of the library. Danny hadn't realized how hungry he was. When he left the house that morning, he hadn't eaten more than a slice of toast, and since he got home from the hospital, he hadn't _felt_ hungry. Now it hit him with full force, his sides aching and his stomach rumbling in demand of the food he missed. Tucker might have been trying to alleviate the grim situation with humor, but if he was going to be any use finding his sister's killer, Danny needed to eat and stay healthy. How could he face the man who killed Jazz if he was about to pass out from hunger?

In the cafeteria, Danny didn't have much of a chance to continue talking to his friends on his recent discovery about his powers and ghosts or about Jazz's murder. His appetite was somewhat lost when he first entered the cafeteria, and almost at once, a hush fell over the other students. With all the eyes upon him, watching his every move, Danny had a hard time eating, but he forced himself to focus on his food rather than the prying eyes. Once the bell rang, he lost all chance to discuss things more with his friends because they had to part ways to go to different classes.

"I do hope you're not pushing yourself too hard," Lancer said, approaching him at the end of his final class. "We understand if you need to take some time away from school to grieve. We would be happy to keep sending your assignments home to you with one of your friends."

"No, I-" Danny shook his head, relieved that Lancer wasn't pressing him into spilling his guts about what happened like this was some therapy session. He was definitely not ready to talk about all the details yet. "Well, I would be lying if I said I was fine." Lancer nodded with understanding in his green eyes. "But I'll be okay. In time." He took a shaky breath. "I still expect her to come jogging into the room looking for me to say she has some club meeting or tutoring thing and can't drive me home today. Or something." The corner of his mouth twitch, but he couldn't quite bring himself to smile at the memories.

Lancer placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "No matter how grim things look, just keep going. The road might be dark, and you may stumble a lot and get frustrated, but if you just keep moving forward, you'll find a way to make it through the hardest of times."

"Thanks, Mr. Lancer." His teacher's words were by no means a magic cure to take away all his pain, but Danny appreciated that Lancer was trying to help without being overbearing about it. He had a feeling if it was Ms. Spectra, she would keep pressuring him into talking even when he made it clear he wasn't ready. "I'll see you tomorrow." He headed for the classroom door, but he paused and turned back to Lancer. "And I'll be sure to keep up with my homework." He lowered his gaze. "And it's not burying the grief by distracting myself or anything. I know Jazz would want me to do the very best I can in school."

Lancer nodded with a small curl of his mouth. "Then I'll be expecting top marks from you. Because I know you can make Jazz proud."

Danny managed to give his teacher a small ghost of a smile. Then he bobbed his head and left the classroom, feeling maybe just a little lighter after his talk with Lancer.


	24. Chapter 24

After leaving the classroom, Danny's first thought was to head for his locker to meet up with his friends. It was habit he began attending high school. But today he had other things on his mind. For one, he wanted to look for Spike. The man had to be somewhere in the school. Unless he ditched out early. Danny squeezed his hands into tight fists at his sides as he walked the halls. If Spike was already gone, then Danny had no idea of where to find him.

A vibration against his hip made him stop. He reached into his pants pocket, frowning at his phone as he wondered who would be calling him. His friends certainly had no reason to call him, since they would assume he was on his way to meet them at the lockers. His mysterious friend D wouldn't be calling. They only spoke through text.

"Hello?" Danny answered the call.

"Hey, Danny," Elle replied with hesitancy and uncertainty in her voice, like she was nervous about calling him. "I heard about what happened."

"Oh," Danny mumbled, lowering his gaze to the floor as chatty students passed him. He had no reason to be surprised that Elle would hear about Jazz's murder somehow, but it still caught him off guard.

"Yeah," Elle trailed off, and Danny could imagine her biting her lower lip like she tended to do when she was nervous about saying something. "I don't want to be rude. And I won't be offended if you tell me to shove off or whatever. But, um, see, I have this big report due on Friday, and I've been working really hard to do it on my own so I wouldn't bother you while you were grieving, but-" She sighed in defeat.

"But you're struggling and really could use my help?" Danny almost laughed.

"Yeah," Elle agreed, and her wince could practically be _heard_ in her voice. "Of course, I understand if you don't want to," she added hurriedly.

Danny shook his head. "Ah, well, I think I have plans with my friends tonight." They were supposed to work on controlling his powers, and maybe discuss more about the whole seeing ghosts thing. All Danny wanted to do was find Spike and demand answers from him. Perhaps by use of his fists. "But I could swing by tomorrow after school for a tutor session."

"Really?" Elle sighed with relief. "Thank you! You don't know how much I need your help!" She coughed to reign in her excited outburst. "Sorry. Sorry! Am I being disrespectful?"

"Don't worry about it." Danny managed a slight smile. Tutoring Elle might help keep him from wallowing in depression over Jazz's death.

"Um, is it okay if I ask you something?"

Danny blinked, not sure if he was going to like her question. "Uh, sure. What is it?"

"Why were you and your sister hanging around my dad's company at night?"

"I - What?" 

"My dad's company," Elle repeated, like her meaning should be obvious. "You know, Dalv Pharmaceuticals."

Danny's mouth hung open as he tried to digest what she was saying. "What?"

Elle sighed. "Danny, what is Dalv backwards?"

"Uh, V-L-A- Oh!" Danny's eyes widened, and he almost wanted to smack himself in the forehead for not seeing the obvious. Dalv was Vlad spelled backwards! Why didn't he notice that before?

"Wow," Elle breathed in an astonished whisper. "You really had no idea?"

"None." Danny laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "I only went there because I had a clue that Ember might be there."

"What?" Elle sounded more alert at the mention of her friend.

"Uh, yeah, I-" Danny gasped, shoulders hunching slightly as a hand grabbed the back of his neck. He craned his head around enough to see Kwan standing behind him. "Uh-" He swallowed nervously. Had Kwan heard about how he tried to punch Dash that morning and was coming to seek payback for his friend? But that didn't sound like Kwan at all. "I have to go now. But we can talk more tomorrow."

"Wait! Dan-" Elle's voice cut off as Danny ended to phone call.

"Uh, hi, Kwan." Danny smiled nervously at the jock. When he received a nudge, he stumbled forward, allowing Kwan to direct where they were heading. His stomach dropped as they used a side exit to leave the building. Kwan was the nice jock, but he seemed to be acting out of character at the moment, which didn't leave Danny with a good feeling. "Does this have anything to do with this morning?" When the hand released him, he turned around to face Kwan, who blinked at him.

"You mean that whole thing where you tried to punch Dash?" Kwan cracked a smile, looking more like the jock Danny remembered. "No, if Dash was angry about that, he would have dealt with you himself." With a shrug, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his letterman jacket. "Anyway, Dash gets it. You're struggling with what happened, and you have a lot of pain eating you up inside. Sometimes, it's just easier to let the pain turn to anger and strike out at something because in that moment the pain lessens." He bobbed his head in a slight, understanding nod.

Danny's eyes darted around, but they were in a section outside of school where not many people lingered after hours. "Uh, so, then," he fumbled for some sort of understanding before turning his gaze back to Kwan, "why did you drag me out here?"

"Oh!" Kwan stared in surprise, like he had completely forgotten the reason he had dragged a loser outside for some privacy. "Dash told me to look into Spike, and if I found out anything, I should tell you."

"Ah." Danny nodded slowly, recalling the conversation with Dash after their first period class. He had put it out of his mind mostly because he didn't expect Dash to be serious about having Kwan look for Spike. "I was just going to walk around school to look for him."

"He didn't come to school yesterday or today," Kwan stated bluntly.

Danny blinked at the jock, his brain stalling for a moment. Of course Spike wouldn't just come right back to school after killing his sister. Why did he think Spike would just casually come to school like nothing happened? He would go into hiding, or something, to avoid capture from the police. Danny frowned, jaw setting hard. Assuming, of course, the police could find any evidence to link Spike to his sister's murder, which wasn't looking likely with the vague description he gave them.

"But you know where Spike is?" Danny asked, almost glaring at the jock to answer him.

Kwan eyed him with hesitancy, and for a moment, Danny thought he would tell him never mind and walk away. Instead, the jock let out a sigh. "I can tell you where he most likely is, though I can't guarantee that he'll be there. There's an old apartment building on Oak Street that's scheduled for demolition next month. Spike's gang sometimes likes to hang out there. It goes mostly ignored, so they can do stupid stuff like drink beer and do other," Kwan looked away with a pursing of his mouth, "unsavory activities. If nothing else, he'll consider it a safe place to hide."

Danny nodded as he listened. He nearly turned to immediately rush off to the apartment building, but he stopped himself. Lifting his gaze to the jock, he shifted in awkwardness. "Thanks, Kwan," he said quietly, the previous harshness washing out of his voice. "I, uh - Well, I've been meaning to get you something to say thanks. For, you know, everything." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, you've done a lot to save me from getting some pretty bad beatings by other jocks and stuff. So I just wanted to thank you somehow."

Kwan shook his head. "You don't need to get me anything. It's not like I act nice just so people will give me stuff."

"Yeah, but I still owe you a big thanks, and just saying thank you feels pretty underwhelming when I think of the stuff you've done to help me out."

"Hey, sometimes a thank you is all you need to say." Kwan shrugged, and Danny knew he shouldn't have expected the jock to want anything for stepping in to keep losers like him from being harassed too much by the other jocks. "But," Kwan continued, now tugging on his ear as he looked away, "I know Dash wants to pay his respects. Jazz, well, she wasn't popular in the same way as Paulina or Dash. But she was involved in a lot of different clubs and things. Her dying kind of hit everyone. Coming to school yesterday was like walking around with a bunch of zombies because everyone was so in shock. But it hit Dash really hard. He really liked your sister. Maybe he could have even loved her. So if he turns up at the wake or the funeral, just," he shrugged, "don't make a thing of it."

Danny hadn't thought about the impact on other people. He hadn't even stopped to think about other students turning up at the funeral. Dash had always flirted with Jazz, and Danny would roll his eyes at it because he knew his sister would never agree to a date with the jock. A part of him felt sorry for Dash.

"Yeah," Danny agreed to the request with a shrug of one shoulder. "I mean, I'm not going to start screaming at him if he shows up. Jazz," he lowered his gaze, picking at some dirt under his thumbnail, "wouldn't want fighting at her funeral." A hand landed on his shoulder and gave it a strong squeeze. Danny lifted his head, and in the jock's aqua green eyes, he could see even Kwan was hurting over Jazz's death.

"I know there's nothing I can really say to comfort you, and we're not exactly friends anyway, but," Kwan shrugged in his uncertainty, "I can be a pretty good listener."

Danny blinked slowly. Kwan was actually offering to sit and listen to him blabber on about what happened? He guessed if he had to pick a jock who would be open enough to listen to a person's problems, it would be Kwan. "Yeah, thanks." Danny nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Kwan patted his shoulder. "I'd tell you to go to Valerie's dad with this information, but I get the feeling you want to chat with Spike yourself before he's arrested."

Danny breathed a shaky laugh. "What? Are you psychic?"

Kwan shrugged with a half smile. "I just thought about what I might do if I was in your situation. I'd want to know why." He frowned as he stared at Danny. "Just be careful and don't do anything stupid. If he's already killed one person-"

"I promise I won't do anything stupid." Danny smiled reassuringly.

"Good." Kwan nodded. "Good." His mouth twitched slightly then he turned to enter the school building again. "See you later, Danny." He waved over his shoulder before he disappeared inside and the door closed behind him.

Danny stood a moment longer, considering his plan of action. Kwan had told him where to find Spike. His first thought was to head there immediately to confront his sister's killer. But hesitation kept him from running off to find the apartment building on Oak Street. Spike already killed once. If Danny rushed into the apartment building looking for him, how could he be sure Spike wouldn't try to kill him too? He couldn't know the man's state of mind. He would need to be cautious when he went to the apartment building.

After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Danny opened the door and entered the school, since he still needed to pick up some books from his locker. He raked a hand through his raven locks as he walked through the hall. He didn't care to think about doing homework, but he knew he couldn't allow his grades to slip. College seemed even further off and less important with his mind focused on his sister's death. He needed some kind of understanding for what happened that night. It wouldn't erase the pain he felt, but maybe it would help to ease it, even just a little.

When he reached the main hall, he turned the corner and slammed into someone. Books clattered to the floor, and Danny flinched when he heard the woman's frustrated huff. Paulina knelt on the floor, picking up one of her fallen books.

"I'm really sorry." Danny crouched down to help her. "I was distracted and wasn't paying attention."

Her emerald eyes flicked up toward him. Then Paulina lowered her gaze, accepting the books he offered to her. "Don't worry about it."

Danny blinked at the A Lister. "Uh, are you okay?" He frowned, brow furrowing in his puzzlement. Paulina would normally snap at him for being a loser and how dare he make her drop her books or even come within ten feet of her. Danny wasn't sure what to do with this Paulina who calmly organized her books without a hint of being angry with him.

"It's just-" Paulina hugged her books to her chest. "Okay. I know you're dealing with losing your sister. And, like, I have no right to act like my pain is greater than yours or anything. But I was dealing with something, and your sister was the only one I could talk to, and now she's gone and I have no one. I've just been feeling so lost after hearing about Jazz's death."

Danny was stunned by the pain in her voice and sat in wonder, not knowing what to say. He shifted a little, seeking some answer to what became an awkward situation for him. "Well, um, you know, Lancer's a pretty open and understanding kind of guy. I'm sure he wouldn't judge you or anything, and he would do his best to help you out with whatever it is."

Paulina frowned, and it was that sort of pout Danny probably would have thought was cute back in freshmen year. "I don't really think this is something I want to discuss with him."

Danny nodded, though he couldn't understand all that well without knowing what exactly the issue was. "Well, then maybe someone else in the A List. Aren't you, like, best friends with Star?"

"Do you have any idea how the A List works?" Paulina snapped with an icy narrowing of her eyes.

"How am I supposed to know anything about the inner workings of the popular crowd?" Danny responded dryly with a flat glare. "You and your friends made it perfectly clear that I'm nothing more than a loser and never will be anything but a loser. Sorry if I don't keep up with the dos and don'ts of the A List."

Paulina scowled at him for a moment then sighed, exhaustion washing away her anger. "Look. There are things you can't really tell other members of the A List. Sure, they might all act like your friend, but if you let slip anything that goes against what's considered the norm, they will use that information to tear you down."

Danny wondered why he ever wanted to be part of the A List. He greatly preferred having friends who had his back rather than having to watch his back all the time. "Sounds to me like you could use some real friends who you can actually talk to about stuff."

"That's why it was great to have Jazz around." Paulina lowered her gaze to the floor between them. "I could talk to her without worry about her spilling anything because Jazz never cared about being in the A List or anything like that. She had no reason to use the information to backstab me. And since she was always studying psychology, she always had really great advice."

"I'm sorry." Danny rubbed at the back of his neck. "I never got the whole psychology thing the way my sister did, so I probably wouldn't be very helpful. All I can really suggest is finding someone new that you're comfortable speaking to about it. And, well, I hope you figure out a solution to whatever it is."

"Thanks. I-" Something distracted Paulina's attention, and she gave him a shove hard enough to knock him over backward. "Watch where you're going, loser." She stood with a huff then flipped her hair as she walked past him.

When he twisted his head around, Danny wasn't surprised to see Star waiting down the hall for Paulina to meet her. With a sigh, he pulled himself to his feet. It was a nice moment while it lasted, but he should have realized the moment anyone turned up, Paulina would go back to acting like the A List queen she always was. But like Dash, Paulina had shown she was more than what she pretended to be before the rest of the student body.

"Stop thinking about it," Danny muttered under his breath as he walked toward his locker. He didn't need another mystery for his brain to puzzle over.


	25. Chapter 25

The training session became more of a study session. Danny had a day of homework to make up, and his friends were there to help him when he had questions about what he missed. He was glad he only stayed home for the one day because he hated the headache of playing catch up with school work. Tucker had sat across from him and tinkered with some parts for the robot for his club. It wasn't looking good for them to complete the robot in time for the competition this year, but that didn't stop Tucker and the other robotics club members from working hard to fix the damage the explosion did to their robot.

"Oh yeah," Danny said, remembering something, as they neared his house after it got dark. He grinned a little, grabbing his bag in preparation to bolt out of the car if necessary. "How did the whole 'date' with Gregor go?"

The wheels squealed when Sam slammed on the breaks. She snapped her head around to face Danny, who was sitting in the back, and her violet eyes narrowed at him. "Do not bring up his name _ever_ again."

"Wow," Danny breathed out, his eyes growing wide. "I'm guessing it was worse than I imagined."

Sam shuddered. "So bad! Ugh! He seems to think he's some gift to women or something, and he doesn't seem to comprehend that not all women are tripping over themselves to date him. He thinks when I say 'no' or 'I'm not interested in you' that I'm playing hard to get. And I'm not. I am _so_ not interested in him. I hate being around him. He makes my skin crawl because he's so sleazy. But my _mom_ acts like we're a perfect match. She couldn't stop going on and on about what our wedding should be like. As if I'm going to marry this jerk! But really, my mom only cares about him because he comes from a rich family."

"I'm so sorry, Sam," Danny said, cringing as he listened to his friend. He figured the dinner would be bad, with how Sam didn't get along well with her parents, but he couldn't have guessed just how badly the dinner went. "There's no convincing your mom that you're just not interested in a relationship right now, huh?"

Sam released a tired sigh as she continued driving toward his house, which was only a few blocks away. "Unfortunately, my mom is of the mind that I should be married by the time I'm in college." She shook her head. "I'll choose who I want to date and when. My mom should be happy I haven't kicked the snot out of Gregor yet."

"I would love to see that if you did though," Tucker said, laughing at the imagery. "From the way you talk, it sounds like he would deserve it."

"Oh, I'm tempted! Don't doubt that." Sam pulled over to the curb, parking her car in front of Danny's house. "You'll talk to us if you need to, right?" Sam turned around to frown with concern at him. Tucker did the same, his brow wrinkling with his worry.

"Yeah." Danny nodded as he pushed open the back door. "I'm just-" He looked away. "I'm not really up for talking about everything that happened right now. But when I am, I'll let you know. For now, I just need to," his mouth pursed for a moment, "sort things out on my own."

His friends nodded, and Tucker said, "We'll see you tomorrow," as Danny climbed out the door. He stood on the curb and waved, watching his friends drive off down the street. The whole study session at Sam's family's warehouse was just an excuse. Danny hadn't wanted to come home yet because he knew what was waiting for him when he got there: no Jazz and his parents dealing with the grief of losing their daughter. But even when he tried to pretend like it wasn't real and Jazz was still alive, the truth snuck back into his mind, hitting him with another wave of sorrow.

Danny braced himself before he opened the front door. His parents entered the front hall before he even had the chance to close the door behind him. His mother walked over to him and gentle combed her fingers through his hair. The smile on her face was sad.

"How was school today?" she asked. "You stayed out pretty late. Do you want dinner? I can heat up some leftovers."

"It was fine." Danny shrugged. "Just the usual stuff. I stayed out to study with Sam and Tuck. We picked up some Nasty Burger for dinner." He frowned as his brow wrinkled slightly. "Is that okay?"

"Of course." His mother nodded. "You just didn't call first, so we weren't sure where you were."

Danny winced. "Sorry. I'll remember to let you know next time." He took a step, heading for the stairs, but he paused. "I agreed to go over to Elle's tomorrow. She needs help with a school report."

His father clapped him on the shoulder with one of his big hands. "Jazz would be proud." The corner of his mouth twitched in a small smile. "If she knew you were devoting your time to tutor someone else, she would be really proud of you." Danny could only nod to the comment as the guilt weighed down on him. He should have done something more to save Jazz.

"Oh, your Aunt Alicia will be arriving on Friday," his mother announced before Danny could climb the stairs. "The police won't have released Jazz's body by then, but we still plan to hold a funeral ceremony for people to come and pay their respects. We don't know when the police will finish their investigation and return her body, so, well, we didn't want to have the funeral hanging over us for weeks or months." She frowned, lowering her gaze.

Normally, such an announcement would be received by grumblings from his father, who wouldn't be looking forward to his sister-in-law talking about how her sister could have done better. But his father was silent, the situation too grim. Danny nodded, which was all the response his parents seemed to need before they wandered off back into the kitchen.

Finally, Danny jogged up the stairs then headed down the hall to his bedroom. His homework was mostly done, and what he had left wasn't due until the end of the week, so he would be able to finish it later. Somehow, he managed to put it out of his mind while he studied with Sam and Tucker, but now his only thought was getting to Oak Street and finding the apartment building where Spike and his friends usually hung out. His friends wouldn't be happy with him when they learned he went there to confront Spike, but he knew they would insist on going with him if he had told them about it earlier. He appreciated the support, but this was something Danny felt he needed to do on his own.

He donned dark slacks and a black hooded sweatshirt. Then he quietly made his way back down the hall, being cautious of the squeaky floorboards since he wanted his parents to think he was still in his room. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he decided not to risk the door. He tossed a glance toward the kitchen, but he couldn't see his parents in the doorway. Then he forced the change, turned intangible, and stepped through the door. On the other side, he reverted to normal with a sigh, glad for the darkness of night and the fact that most people on his block would probably be sitting around the television watching the news or in bed at the moment.

Flipping up his hood, Danny jogged down the street toward Oak Street. If anyone saw him, maybe they would think he was merely out for a nightly run. He reached Oak Street in less than half an hour then had to spend another five minutes wandering down the street to locate the condemned apartment building. After a moment to stare up at it, Danny glanced around, but the street was quiet, thankfully since the apartment building wasn't exactly in a good neighborhood. He stepped up to the front door of the building then pushed it open and slipped inside.

Despite the dark, Danny could still make out what the inside looked like in the gloom of moonlight coming through the windows. The front hall had a tacky rug in a gaudy orange with bright pink patterns laid out on the floor. The plant in the corner beside the mailboxes had died ages ago, now appearing shriveled and black. The building lacked an elevator, but Danny doubted it would work even if there was one. If the building was scheduled for demolition, they would have shut off the power.

Danny headed up the stairs to the first floor of apartments. Down the hall, he spotted the flicker of light in the space beneath one of the doors. He switched to his ghost form as he quietly crept down the hall toward the door. He wanted to take advantage of surprising the man on the other side, and hopefully subdue him before he could grab a gun or any other weapon with which to defend himself. When he reached the door, he steeled himself for what might lay beyond it. He hoped it would be only Spike. But how could he know if Spike was even in there? The person beyond the door could be someone else entirely. Or no one could be there, and the last person to visit the apartment building had forgotten to put out the light before leaving.

After he released the breath he had held, a nervous chill washing over him, Danny phased his way through the door and prepared himself for a fight. He froze, recognizing that uneven Mohawk of the man sitting on a stool in the middle of the room with a small table next to him which held the source of light in the form of a flashlight. Different emotions warred inside him: anger at the man who had killed Jazz and horror when he noticed the needle of the syringe the man held about to pierce the crook of his elbow. The shock broke, and Danny shot over to the man then grabbed his wrist and yanked the hand holding the syringe away from his arm.

"Hey! What are you-" When Spike lifted his head, the color drained from his face, making his skin seem even more gray than usual. "Ah! Zombie!" He abandoned the syringe in order to flail and attempt to whack the "zombie" in the head with his fists. "Please don't eat my brains! I'm not that smart!"

Danny struggled against him. A fist clapped him on the side of the head, and he winced, but Dash had hit him harder in the past. The stool clattered on the floor when it was kicked out from under Spike. They hit the ground in a tangle of limbs, and Spike pushed at Danny, attempting to pin him to the floor. But Danny had superior strength now, thanks to the ghost powers. He had to focus to keep control of his strength, though, or risk accidentally snapping Spike's wrist. He doubted he would get any answers out of the man if Spike was screaming over a broken wrist. With only a little extra force, he slammed Spike to the ground, using his knees to pin the man's shoulders down as he pressed his forearm to the man's throat.

"I have some questions for you," Danny said in a cold, steely voice as his green eyes narrowed at the man beneath him. "So you better," he pressed a bit harder on Spike's throat, "answer truthfully."

Spike stared up at him with wide, wild eyes. "You - You're not going to eat my brains?"

Danny released a sigh, hanging his head. _This_ was the man who killed his sister? His jaw set hard as he lifted his gaze to meet Spike's eyes again. "No," he growled, "I don't want to eat your brains." That announcement, at least, made Spike relax a little under him. "Why did you shoot Jazz Fenton?"

"W-What?" Spike's voice cracked. "I didn't kill Jazz! I couldn't - I would never touch a gun!"

"You shot her and ran," Danny shouted into his face, watching as the man flinched back as much as the floor would allow. His arm pressed harder against Spike's throat. "What reason could you possibly have for shooting her? Why was she even meeting you there?" When Spike didn't answer fast enough, Danny squeezed his throat until Spike tried smacking him while gasping for air. He let up, only because he wanted to know the answers. But part him kept whispering for him to keep the pressure on, to make Spike suffer a long, slow, agonizing death, because Spike deserved it for taking his sister away.

"I swear I didn't kill her. Wait! Wait!" Spike shouted before Danny could lean his forearm on the man's throat again. He took a few shaky breaths then continued. "For the past month, Jazz has been pestering me about quitting drugs and trying to do something more with my life. I always blew her off, but she just wouldn't quit. She was only there that night because she followed me to talk me out of doing drugs."

"So you shot her? Because she was trying to help you and you were too stupid to see that she only wanted to keep you from killing yourself with drugs?"

"No!" Spike shook his head as best he could. "I didn't shoot her! We were still arguing when the other guy came out. When he shot Jazz, I ran for it. I thought he'd shoot me too!"

"Who?" Danny demanded as he raised a fist, preparing to punch Spike. "You were the only one there."

"I was only there as the lookout. My partner was inside looking for the stuff. That's why I was trying to get Jazz and her brother to leave. I know I've done a lot of messed up stuff in my life, but it was never my intention to get Jazz involved in any of it." Spike clamped his eyes shut, and Danny hesitated, seeing the pain and regret twisting upon his face. "If she had just left when I asked, none of this would have happened."

Danny wanted to scream. Another person? There was another person involved in Jazz's murder? He slammed his fist down close to Spike's head, and the man flinch away as the floorboards cracked under Danny's fist. Danny managed to control his strength enough not punch straight through the floor.

"Who was it?" Danny shook with his rage. "Who was your partner?"

"I don't know! I swear!" Spike's eyes had gone wide with panic after Danny came close to punching him in the face. "It was the first time I worked with him. That's the whole point! We're paired up with people we don't know for the robberies so if either of us are caught, we can't rat out the other."

"Robberies," Danny mumbled, recalling past news casts about places being robbed, like the facility owned by Sam's family. "You must have at least seen the man. Describe him."

"I only saw him for about a second. He ordered me to take watch and went inside. Then everything happened so fast when he came out again and shot Jazz." Spike shrugged, or attempted to with Danny's knees still holding him down. "The guy was short. That's about all I can remember."

It didn't seem like Spike was lying to him. Danny frowned, staring down at the man for a long, silent moment. "Why are you robbing places? Why are you working for these people?"

"I owe money for the drugs I do," Spike explained in a hurry, maybe afraid Danny's next punch wouldn't miss him. "They approached me and said if I did a few jobs for them, they would pay my debt and get me more drugs."

Danny's mouth pursed, his rage feeling like a blazing fire in his chest. But a knock on the apartment door interrupted anything he might have shouted at Spike next. Danny craned his head around to stare at the door, praying whoever was on the other side wouldn't open it.

"Yo, Spike! Open up," a man called from the hall.

"Yeah, we brought you some food," a woman said with a hint of impatience in her voice.

Danny turned his gaze back to Spike. "I want you to go to the police and tell them _everything_ you know about what happened the night Jazz Fenton was killed."

"But - But they'll kill me for talking!" Spike protested.

"The police won't let that happen." Danny climbed off the man. "Make sure you ask to talk to Police Chief Gray." At another, insistent, pounding on the door, Danny darted toward one of the side walls, phasing through it before Spike could get up to open the door. Once he was in the empty apartment next to Spike's room, he allowed himself to revert back to normal. He waited until he heard the door open and voices next door. Spike sounded almost normal, calm at least, as he spoke to the couple who brought him food.

After deciding it was safe to leave, he hurried out of the apartment and down the stairs to the lobby. He had expected to get answers out of Spike, but the answers he got only led to more questions. Who talked Spike into participating in robberies? Who was the partner he had Monday night that shot Jazz? Danny gritted his teeth in frustration as he jogged out of the building and down the street.

Danny continued running through the streets on his way home. He was nearing the edge of the not so good neighborhood until a familiar bark stopped him in his tracks. When he backed up to the entrance of an alley, Danny grinned and crouched as the puppy ran over to him.

"Hey there, Cujo!" Danny laughed as the puppy licked his cheek. "I wondered where you got off to." He scratched behind Cujo's ears, happy to see the puppy again. A rustling caught his ear, and Danny twisted around, keeping himself between the approaching person and Cujo.

The man put his hands up, the bag in one hand crinkling at the action. His clothing was dark, and he wore the hood up on his sweatshirt again. But Danny could recognized the curl of a smirk, the only visible part of his face. A lump jumped into his throat. He hadn't expected to run into the man who saved him from becoming road patty by a speeding car. The man walked closer, slow steps almost like he was trying to get close to a wild animal without spooking it.

"This isn't exactly the type of neighborhood I would expect to see you in," the man said, amused, as he crouched down near Danny. Cujo stepped toward the man then turned his head back to Danny and gave a whine.

"I was just passing through." Danny nudged Cujo toward the man with a light chuckle.

The man nodded as he opened his plastic bag, which came from a local mini mart based on the logo. "Is he your dog? I found him sniffing around here, so I went to get him a bit of food." He placed a bowl down before Cujo and filled it with some puppy chow. Cujo barked happily then dug into the food.

"No." Danny shook his head. "I came across him not too long ago. Some boys were harassing him so I chased them off. I want to adopt him, but," he sighed, shoulders slumping, "I still have to convince my parents." He turned his head away, his cheeks warming a touch. "Um, you disappeared last time."

"I had a job to do." The man shrugged.

"You didn't give me a chance to thank you though." With a frown, Danny turned back to the man. "Thank you. If you hadn't been there, I'd have eaten pavement."

The man leaned his head back, somehow managing to still keep most of his face in shadow. His hand disappeared under his hood as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "That's not really necessary. I was just in the right place at the right time. Anyone else could have done the same."

"Maybe, but you were the one who was there. You were the one who saved me."

"So adopting the pup," the man said hurriedly, obviously uncomfortable with being thanked.

"Cujo. He," Danny scratched the puppy's rump as his tail wagged rapidly, "seemed to like that name."

"Cujo then." The man nodded. "I can keep an eye on him while you try to convince your parents. You know," he shrugged one broad shoulder, "make sure he's getting food that isn't out of a trash can and staying out of trouble. Can't let some little punk bully the poor fellow."

Danny blinked, startled by the offer. Then he laughed. "Shouldn't I be the one offering something? For saving me."

The man shook his head. "Nope. Not allowed." Then he smirked. "Against the hero code."

"Oh, right." Danny nodded his head with a small grin. "Can't break the hero code." Then he sighed, slapping his hands on his legs as he prepared to stand. "I should probably get going though. I kind of snuck out." He cringed. "I want to get back before my parents discover I left."

"And I wouldn't want to be the cause of you getting caught."

Danny got to his feet. "Um, well, I guess goodbye then." He scratched behind one ear, feeling a bit awkward leaving it like this.

"See you around, cutie." The man smirked at him, and Danny had to turn away as a blush burned across his face. Did the man call everyone cutie? Or was he actually trying to flirt with him?

"See ya," Danny said, his voice cracking a touch. He walked, slowly, away and headed for his home, though he felt like bolting out of embarrassment. He hadn't even seen the man's face yet! After a few blocks, Danny smacked his forehead. He had thanked the man for saving him, but he never asked for the man's name. "Why do I keep forgetting to ask about stuff?" He shook his head as he walked.


	26. Chapter 26

Danny sat on his bed, chin balanced in one hand as he stared at the corkboard he had put up on the wall over his desk. Sometime around four in the morning, he couldn't sleep anymore, so he set up the corkboard, first pinning the card he got from Kyle in the center of it. Since then, he added anything else he could think of to the board. A note about the robbery at the Manson's facility, which he connected to Spike and Jazz's death with an addition note of a short man being Spike's partner. Ember's disappearance after being approached by two mysterious men. He included the explosion at school, but he doubted it had any actual connection to Jazz's murder. For now, he was merely adding anything he could think of that happened recently out of the ordinary. Then he fixed his gaze upon the corkboard like he thought if he stared at it long enough answers would magically appear before him.

"I need more clues," Danny mumbled as he rubbed his hands over his face. He didn't have enough information to figure out who Spike's partner was, the one who actually murdered Jazz. Frowning, he lowered his gaze to his hands, holding them out before him. When he confronted Spike, a part of him wanted to kill the man. His anger, pain, and sorrow nearly drove him to be no better than Jazz's killer. He closed his eyes, bowing his head as his fingers tangled in his raven locks. If Jazz had seen him then, she would be disappointed in him. She would never want him to kill someone, even if it was to avenge her death. She would seek justice, but she wouldn't resort to killing.

"I'll find the one who did this, Jazz," Danny said, raising his head to glare at the corkboard. "I'll bring him to justice the way you would. Without killing."

His focus on the corkboard was interrupted when his alarm clock rang. Danny groaned as he dragged himself off the bed, his muscles aching from sitting too long without moving. He wanted to solve the mystery of his sister's murder, but he wouldn't find the answer unless he left his bedroom and went out to _search_ for clues.

After a quick shower, Danny dressed and grabbed his school bag then headed downstairs for breakfast. His parents were already in the kitchen when he arrived, and Danny suspected they might have gotten even less sleep than he had. His father worked on autopilot next to his wife at the stove as they made scrambled eggs and bacon. Danny dropped his bag next to his seat at the table then walked over to the cabinet to grab plates.

"Just in time," his father said, grinning too forcibly to be his natural cheery self. He picked up a few slices of bacon and dropped them on the top plate for Danny.

Then his mother served up a big spoonful of eggs onto the plate. "You're going to school again today? Eat up and don't be late."

"Yup," Danny said, leaving two plates at the ready for his parents. "I can't fall too behind in my classes." He carried his own plate over to the kitchen table. The newspaper sat on the table, waiting to be opened. Once he sat down, Danny pulled the newspaper to him and unrolled it. As he ate his breakfast, he scanned the newspaper for any interesting news stories, searching for anything that might be related to Jazz's murder.

"Another murder," his father said, reading over his son's shoulder before taking his seat. He sighed tiredly, and Danny found he missed his happy-go-lucky father. A lot. "Looks like the same MO."

Danny glanced over the article to which his father referred. Some underground mobster was found tied up in the warehouse he did business out of, and his head was chopped off. No concrete evidence was found, but they felt it safe to assume the killer was the same as the previous case as both of them involved the victim having their heads cut off.

"You're doing the tutoring thing tonight?" his mother asked as she joined them at the table. "Be sure to come home before it gets too dark. I don't like the idea of you being out late if there's some weirdo going around chopping off people's heads."

"I doubt I'm going to run into such a person, but if it'll make you feel better." Danny shrugged and bit into a slice of bacon. When he finished his breakfast, he took his dishes to the sink. "I'll be back after my tutor session with Elle." He grabbed his bag as he passed by the table again.

"Danny," his father caught his arm before he could exit the kitchen, "you'd tell us if anything was wrong, right?"

"We understand if you'd rather discuss what happened with someone outside the family," his mother added with a concerned wrinkle in her brow. "Sometimes that's easier. We're just worried. Since you were there when it happened."

Danny shook his head. "I'll be okay." He managed a small smile to reassure his parents. "I have people to talk to when I'm ready for that." His parents nodded, and after that, he was free to leave the kitchen. Danny released a sigh once he had left the house. He knew everyone was concerned about him after Jazz's murder, but it was becoming too much with everyone asking him if he was okay or needed someone to talk to about it.

The walk to school gave him the time to clear his head. Even though he promised to be home before dark, Danny knew that would be his best time to search for clues. Where to begin the search, however, was what had him stuck for the moment. Trying to scare more information out of Spike sounded unpromising. Spike didn't seem to know anything more than what he already said, especially if these people were careful about not revealing names to each other. Maybe if he could find Ember - Danny shook his head. He would probably have the same problem with Ember not knowing any of these people's identities to help him. But he still needed to find her. For Elle. He hoped during his hunt for his sister's killer he would be able to discover to where Ember disappeared.

When he arrived at his locker, Danny blinked. "Where Tuck?" He opened his locker, shoving a book inside and grabbing a different one.

"Robotics stuff or something." Sam shrugged. "As soon as we got here, he said he had something to do."

Danny frowned slightly, tugging the strap of his bag over his shoulder. "I was hoping to talk to both of you before school. But I guess I'll wait until lunch."

"Is this something we should worry about?" Sam's eyebrow arched as she folded her arms.

Danny pondered for a moment. "Maybe. For now, just wait until lunch." He waved to Sam, who huffed in frustration like she usually did when she hated not being told something. Then Danny slipped into his first period class. He hadn't thought everything out on the way to school, but he was piecing together some ideas. When he sat down at his desk, he got out his books for class then flipped open his notebook to a clean page. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted during class, but between classes gave him the opportunity to work on some sketches.

"So Sam said you had something you wanted to talk about?" Tucker lifted curious eyebrows as the three friends sat in a quiet corner of the library.

"Okay. I haven't worked out everything," Danny said then took a deep breath. "Spike wasn't the one who killed Jazz." The lights flickered eerily, and he tilted his head back to frown at the ceiling. "I haven't been imagining that, right?" He pointed toward the ceiling as he lowered his gaze to his friends. "The lights have been doing that all day, right?"

"Yeah," Sam answered with a shrug.

"One of my teachers said it was probably just from the workers rebuilding the damaged part of the school," Tucker said, though his eyes held some doubt.

"Okay," Danny drew out the word. "Well, anyway, so Spike said he was working with a partner, and that partner was the one who shot Jazz."

"How do you know he isn't lying?" Sam folded her arms as she leaned back against the wall.

"I nearly punched my fist through the floor just _inches_ from his head. I think he was too terrified of what I would do if he lied to me." Danny leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his legs. "Unfortunately, Spike doesn't remember much about the other guy, so now I have to play detective and hunt the guy down."

"Or," Tucker cut in with a concerned frown, "you could take this information to the police and let _them_ do the detective work."

"I already told Spike to go to the police with what he knows. But I can't just sit back and do nothing. Someone killed my sister. I was right there." Danny struggled with the feeling building inside him, threatening to choke him. "I shouldn't have left her there. I should have stayed. I should have done _something_." He had to stop for a moment, or he knew he would begin screaming, maybe even break down crying from the emotions twisting around inside him. "I can't - I _have_ to try to find this guy, or I'm going to go crazy."

Tucker lowered his gaze. "Sorry. I didn't-" He shook his head then met his friend's eyes. "I wasn't thinking about how you were dealing with all this. Is there anything we can do to help you?"

"So here's the thing." Danny moved a little closer to his friends. "Spike said these people hired him to rob some places. Sam's parent's facility." He gestured to Sam. "Dalv Pharmaceuticals. And I'm sure there are others. That's about the only thing I have to go on right now. So I'm going to patrol around town and check for anyone trying to hit any other places dealing with medicine. Maybe I'll get lucky and come across the guy that killed Jazz."

"That sounds," Sam's mouth pursed, "dangerous. Danny, you'd be putting yourself at risk. If they know what you look like, they can come after you, or your parents."

"Which is why I won't be going out as me." Danny grinned, but his friends merely stared back in confusion. "Uh, ghost form?" He mimed smacking himself in the forehead. "But for that, I think I'm going to need a look for it." He dug into his bag and pulled out a notebook. "Think you can help me with this?" He flipped it open to the sketch he had worked on and showed it to Tucker.

"Whoa!" Tucker took the notebook from his friend. "This is so awesome! Consider it done." Then he frowned as he lifted his gaze to Danny. "But wouldn't-"

"Yeah, you'll have to make it in reverse," Danny agreed. He gave it a lot of thought while he was working on the sketch, and a black and white theme felt like the best fit. If they made the costume in white, it would turn black when he transformed. "The other thing is," he held out his hands before him, staring at them, "I'm getting decent at the whole intangibility thing. But can I do more? I want to see if I can extend that intangibility to other things. Maybe I could even make someone else intangible, for like, escaping through a wall if things get dangerous. And if I have these ghost powers, why is it just intangibility? Can't ghosts fly and turn invisible and stuff? Shouldn't I be able to do that too?"

"Maybe it's like a progressive thing," Sam suggested. "You start off small, only knowing one skill, but as time goes on and you get stronger with your powers, you develop new ones."

"Flying would be pretty cool, but invisibility would really give me the advantage of surprising these people." Danny hoped Sam was right because the more abilities he had at his disposal, the better chance he had of surviving if things came to a fight.

"So," Tucker said slowly, "you're planning on doing this all by yourself." The disapproving frown and slight narrowing of his eyes were enough to tell Danny his friend already knew what was going on in his head.

"I can't risk the two of you getting hurt because of me. This is my fight."

"Yeah, but, Danny," Sam's face was the picture of determination, "you don't have to do this alone. And you can't really expect to tell us your plan and have us sit back and do nothing."

"Well, unless you have some way to monitor police reports so you can contact me about any burglaries you overhear." Danny shrugged helplessly. If these people were carrying guns with them, he wasn't worried about himself, as long as his intangibility didn't fail him, but his friends didn't have powers like he did. If they were shot at, Sam and Tucker could die, and Danny refused to put them in that kind of danger.

"I could probably get something together for that," Tucker said, scratching his chin in thought. "Though I would first need parts." He glanced to his side where Sam sat.

"Oh fine." Sam rolled her eyes. "I can get any parts you need. Just give me a list."

"Sweet!" Tucker cheered, throwing a fist into the air.

"Only the things you need for listening to the police radio." Sam glared at Tucker, who looked perhaps a little less cheerful.

"Ruin my fun," Tucker muttered. "Who am I kidding?" A grin cracked across his face. "I feel like we're spies or in some comic book. I know. I know." He held up his hands. "I shouldn't be getting excited about this since it's the result of Jazz's death. But-" He frowned as the whole mood turned grim at the mention of Jazz.

"And on that note, I think we should hit the cafeteria before we miss lunch completely." Sam stood, slinging her bag over one shoulder, which seemed to put an end to their secret conversation. Danny and Tucker followed suit, grabbing their things. Tucker tore out the sketch from Danny's notebook then handed the notebook back to his friend as he folded up the sketch and tucked it safely into his bag. Then the three friends left the library and walked through the halls to the cafeteria.

Danny spent the rest of the school day anxiously awaiting the end of his final class. He wanted to begin his search for clues about the man who killed Jazz, but he knew he needed to wait until they had everything prepared. For one, the costume was necessary to protect his identity. Thanks to training, he could maintain his ghost form for longer than he could at first, but it could still drain his energy fairly fast.

When the bell finally rang, Danny packed up his things in a hurry and dashed out of his last class. He stopped by his locker to say goodbye to his friends before leaving the school. Once he left the building, he headed off down the street and walked toward Elle's home. He stopped at the street where the car nearly ran him over, and his gaze drifted around the area, seeking the hooded man. With a shake of his head, he crossed the street when the walk sign appeared. Of course the man wouldn't be hanging around that same spot. But after last night, he _almost_ expected to run into the man again.

Danny rang the doorbell when he reached Elle's home then waited for Carmina to answer the door, as usual. After he stood there for about five minutes, the door opened. Danny grinned at the dry expression upon the woman's face. He, clearly, wasn't doing a good job of warming up to Carmina. The woman stepped aside with a slight bow of her head as Danny entered.

"That is completely unreasonable!" Mr. Masters snapped, exiting a room off to the side of the hall. "We had a deal, and now you're going back on it. I-" He caught sight of Danny and hesitated in his rants to the person on the phone. "I'll have to call you back." He ended the call and slipped his phone into the inside breast pocket of his suit jacket. "Ah, Daniel. What brings you by today?" He walked over to Danny as Carmina bowed then left to take care of her duties.

"Oh, I'm just here to tutor Elle." Danny shifted his weight. It was the obvious answer since he only came over to their house when he was meeting Elle for a tutor session. Though, if given the opportunity, he would love to prod Mr. Masters about some of Axion Labs' space exploration projects.

Mr. Masters nodded, but he wore a grim expression. "I do hope she isn't causing any trouble for you. I-" He frowned then placed a hand upon Danny's shoulder. "I heard about what happened. I'm sorry. I may not have known your sister, but I am truly sorry for your loss."

"Thanks." Danny bowed his head with a frown. The tutoring session with Elle was supposed to help him take his mind off Jazz's death. "Um, I heard that the person who shot my sister may have tried to rob your company. Was anything stolen?" The lights flickered overhead then went out completely.

Mr. Masters sighed. "My apologies. I thought they had fixed that."

"You're having electrical problems too?" Danny wondered if there was some connection between the lights going out in the Masters' house and the lights flickering at school. They were quite a distance away, though, so a connection might be less likely.

"For most of the day. Excuse me." Mr. Masters left Danny standing in the front hall.

Danny wandered around the hall, pacing the length to alleviate some of the awkwardness of being left alone with nothing to do except wait. Elle, apparently, hadn't returned home yet, or Carmina would have announced she would retrieve Elle for him when she left. On his sixth lap around the hall, the front door opened, and Elle stepped into the house.

"Danny!" Elle greeted when she looked up to see him standing before her in the hall. "I hope you weren't waiting long. Are you okay?" She touched his arm with that same sympathetic frown most people gave since Jazz's death. "You don't have to force yourself to tutor me if you're not feeling up to it."

Danny shook his head. "No, it's fine. A distraction now and then is good."

Elle nodded solemnly. "If you're sure." Then she grabbed hold of Danny's arms, staring at him with wide blue eyes. "You mentioned Ember on the phone. And then you just hung up on me!"

"Oh!" Danny had forgotten about that. Did they have their phone conversation only yesterday? It felt like weeks ago with everything happening. "I ran into someone who thought they might know something about what happened to Ember. Some guys approached Ember and gave her a card, but she dropped it. That's why I was at your father's company that night. The card had the address of Dalv Pharmaceuticals on it with a date and time. Unfortunately, it seems the card was telling her when to meet up for a robbery."

"What?" Elle gasped, backing up a step like he had slapped her. "No! Ember _wouldn't_ do that!"

"I know it sounds crazy." With a sigh, Danny raked a hand through his hair. "I didn't tell you about it when I first got the card because I didn't want to get your hopes up about finding Ember and then it turns out she isn't there. And she wasn't. She didn't show up at all. So maybe she didn't agree to whatever those men asked of her. But now we're back to square one on trying to find Ember."

Elle frowned, lowering her gaze to the floor. "I'm just worried about her. I don't understand why she would run away like this." Then she shook her head. "No more of that. We're supposed to be studying."

"Right. Uh, the power seems to be out still." Danny glanced toward the ceiling at the dark lights.

"Here too?" Elle's brow furrowed. "We were having problems with the lights at my school. They were flickering all day. Let's go out to study. I don't want to stick around here and risk hearing more of my dad's lectures about how I need to devote myself to my studies more and why can't I be as smart as Daniel." She rolled her eyes as she grabbed Danny's hand and dragged him toward the front door.

"I'm not really that smart," Danny argued. Was this electrical problem a city wide problem? Elle's school wasn't close to Casper High, yet the problem had spread there too.

"You know, putting yourself down like that isn't very attractive." Elle closed the door behind them after they stepped out of the house.

"What if I was trying to be modest?" Danny grinned as he walked beside her.

"Hm, maybe, but it didn't sound like false modesty." Elle gave him a bump with her hip. "You're plenty smart, so stop thinking otherwise." She led the way, and Danny almost laughed when he found himself standing outside the nearest Nasty Burger to Elle's house. At least, they similar tastes in hang out places. They found an open booth in the back and got to work on the report Elle had due tomorrow.


	27. Chapter 27

"This is so awesome," Danny grinned as he stepped around the row of boxes to where his friends waited. "What do you think? Does it look good?" He placed his hands on his hips, trying to strike a heroic pose for his friends. They met up at the usual facility owned by Sam's parents, which they were using as their sort of secret base for his training session, and occasionally studying. When he showed up, Danny was surprised to learn Tucker had completed his work on sewing the costume.

"It's so," Sam's mouth pursed slightly, "white."

"You have to wait for him to transform," Tucker said as he placed his arm on one of Sam's shoulders and leaned on her. He wore a big, proud grin for the work he did on the costume.

Shifting between forms was becoming almost second nature to him. Danny breathed in deeply, and when he exhaled, he had changed into his ghost form, his costume reverting colors in the process. Now he stood before his friends in a black jumpsuit, which was quite snug on him, with a white belt and white stripes running up his sides and looping over his shoulders. The gloves and boots he wore were now white too. He tugged the black hood over his head. Then he pulled up the white collar of his suit over his face, which would help to keep people from recognizing him, even if his skin was a sickly pale green with ugly darker green veins spider webbing all over his skin. Having some screaming "Zombie!" at him didn't encourage him to run around as a ghost with people able to see his face. Between the hood and the mask, his white hair remained visible.

"Okay. That's a little better," Sam admitted, and after a moment, Danny shifted back to normal. "But you can't maintain the ghost form for very long."

"That's why I plan to wait until I come across something happening before transforming," Danny explained, pulled down the mask. "So until then, I'll have to wear something over the costume to hide it."

"You really thought of everything, huh?" Tucker asked, sounding more impressed than Danny liked.

"I've been thinking about this since I confronted Spike about Jazz," Danny explained, raking a hand through his hair and pushing back the hood of his costume. "It might take me a while to find even a small clue to her killer, but I _will_ find him." His gaze hardened with determination, his eyes flashing quickly to bright green. His friends could talk him out of it all they wanted, but he would ignore everything they said. Apparently, they realized that fact because they didn't even attempt to say he was crazy for risking his life like this.

"Look, Danny." Sam stepped up to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Just be careful." She squeezed his arm with a look of worry in her violet eyes. "If you come against anything you can't handle, promise you'll get out of there. We don't want to see you get hurt."

"I promise to be careful," Danny assured her. Then he turned to Tucker. "Hey, sorry I pulled you away from your robot to make this." He gestured with one hand to the costume he wore.

Tucker shook his head, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants as he looked slightly embarrassed. "The guys at the club can handle things without me for a day. I would have worked on that device so we can listen in on the police radio, but _someone_ ," he stared pointedly at Sam, "dropped the ball on that."

Sam punched him on the arm, and Tucker winced, holding the sore spot. "What were you expecting? I'd have everything on your list delivered within five minutes of you handing it to me?"

"A guy can dream?" Tucker sighed. "I really enjoy working on the robot for the club, but sometimes it's nice to have a little side project to work on."

Danny could understand, in a way. When he was studying, he liked to take occasional breaks to laze about and give his mind a rest before diving right back into his schoolwork. "Okay. I'm going to start patrolling tonight."

He walked back around the row of boxes to where he left his clothes after changing into the costume. With the tight spandex of the jumpsuit, it was easy to pull on a pair of jeans, one of his baggier pairs, and his hooded sweatshirt. He removed the gloves and changed the boots for his normal shoes, just to keep from looking suspicious when he walked down the street. After he tucked the boots and gloves into his bag, he returned to his friends.

"You probably don't want us calling you." Sam folded her arms and leaned back against the boxes. Her deep set frown said she didn't exactly like Danny going out alone, and if she could, she would go with him.

"I'll have my phone on vibrate if you really need to contact me," Danny explained, patting his pocket. He figured if his parents called him at any point while he was patrolling, he didn't want his phone ringing while he was watching out for any criminals. But he hoped no one tried to call him in the middle of a fight, if he ended up in one.

"At least give us a heads up every now and then," Tucker said. "Or I'm going to sew a tracker into your suit so I can find you if you suddenly go missing."

"I probably won't even run into any of these people tonight," Danny said, but his friends continued to look worried for him. "Okay. Okay." He held up his hands in defeat. "I'll be sure to keep in touch." He tugged his bag onto his shoulder, gave his friends a wave, then turned to leave. As he left the facility, he passed by the man who usually worked well into the night cataloging inventory and making sure everything was properly placed. He gave the employee a cheerful goodnight before he left the building then walked off down the street.

During lunch, Danny had sat down with his friends to discuss possible facilities the burglars might hit. He memorized the best route to take so he would pass by all of them in a loop. If he didn't run across any burglars by a quarter to eleven, he planned to call it a night, so he would have enough time to get home before his curfew. He made his way toward the first facility on the list. As much as he hoped to find a clue to his sister's murder, he doubted luck would shine on him the first night of patrolling.

Danny passed by plenty of people as he walked the streets. While he kept an eye out for anyone suspicious, no one he crossed paths with struck him as a burglar. No one appeared to be casing the facilities to rob them, and he didn't see anyone who was glancing around like they were keeping watch for the police. The people he passed were on the phone or in a hurry to get home or catch a bus. Some were couples, looking like they were on a date, and he passed a few small groups of women chattering to each other.

Since no one was paying any attention to him, they didn't notice whenever Danny ducked into alleys to check the sides and back of the facilities to check for burglars. The night remained quiet after the third facility he checked out, and Danny sighed, both in disappointment and frustration. This whole patrol thing would probably go faster if he could fly and turn invisible. He would be able to zip through buildings unseen and keep a watch over Amity Park from the sky.

Danny shook his head as he walked to the next facility. His attempts to learn either flying or invisibility hadn't gone well so far. He needed to patient. He knew that. After all, he hadn't been trying for long. Danny squeezed his hands within the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt. Perhaps Sam was right with her progressive powers theory. Danny breathed out a long sigh, trying to expel his frustrations in that one breath. He wanted those powers now. He wanted to be _stronger_ so he could stand against his sister's killer when he found him.

Halfway to the fourth facility, Danny halted in his tracks. He shivered at the chill tickling the back of his neck. It wasn't nearly as bad as the one he had got when the explosion happened or when Jazz was shot. It was one of those small little alerts he usually got at school when one of the jocks was looking to bully him. Danny frowned at the building he stood before, which was a small bank that had already closed for the night. He glanced down the street, wanting to go to the next facility in case the burglars were hitting it tonight. But the chances seemed low of that, and if someone was hitting the bank _right now_ , Danny couldn't simply ignore it.

After some internal debating, and resisting the urge to growl at himself, Danny ducked into the alley to the side of the bank. He glanced around to make sure there were no security cameras to catch him and stayed to the shadows where anyone passing by the entrance of the alley was less likely to see him. Then he stripped off his regular clothes and pulled on the boots and gloves of his costume. Once his bag was safely stowed away out of sight, Danny tugged up the mask and hood. He transformed, his suit reverting colors, then turned intangible to walk through the wall of the bank.

Inside, the building was dark with only thin streams of moonlight filtering in through the vertical slates of the blinds over the windows. To one side, Danny found little cubical offices where customers could talk with employees of the bank about their accounts. There were a few chairs set up for customers, or their bored children, to sit while waiting. Then he spotted the counter where people could deposit or cash checks or make withdrawals. As a small bank, it probably didn't hold anywhere near as much money as the bigger banks. Everything in the bank seemed quiet.

Until Danny heard someone muttering.

"No, you idiot!" The speaker smacked his partner on the back of the head. "Are you trying to blow up the whole place? We want the money. Not a pile of ashes."

"That hurt!" grumbled the other man as he rubbed his head. "And I know what I'm doing. This ain't my first time blowing open a safe."

"Yeah, well, the last time you miscalculated the explosives and we ended up in jail. I don't plan on going back because you mess up again."

Danny inched forward slowly, his steps falling as silently as possible, though the two men didn't notice him. His tongue swiped across his lips, and he swallowed down the lump in his throat. This was his plan, wasn't it? Not entirely, if these men had nothing to do with his sister's murder. But he could almost hear his sister telling him that if he saw wrongdoing, he should stand up and stop it. His sister had always done everything to help others and to stand up against things like bullying. She had never asked him or anyone else for anything. Danny's knuckles hurt as his fists clenched tightly. Jazz was the most selfless person he knew, and now she was gone, taken from him. A part of him still wanted to find her killer and put him six feet under. But he knew if he did that, he would always have a guilt hanging over him, knowing his sister would never forgive him for killing in her name.

"Put your hands up," Danny ordered in a loud voice, which thankfully didn't crack.

The two men froze then twisted their heads around to face him. The standing man broke into a laugh while his partner went back to working on setting up the explosives to blow open the bank vault.

"I think you're a bit late for Halloween, kid," the man said after he got his laughter under control.

Danny's cheeks flushed with heat, angry and a little from the embarrassment of the man laughing at him. "I guess I wasn't the only one who missed out on Halloween," he said, once he squashed down his anger. He cracked a grin behind his mask. "Because I thought you two were dressed up as jailbirds."

"Joe, get that vault open," the lead man ordered. "I'll deal with Mr. Wise Cracker over there." He rolled up his sleeves, which didn't make him look very intimidating when the man had wiry arms.

After all his encounters with Dash, this man didn't frightened Danny, not when he couldn't see evidence of a gun on him. What did scare Danny was the explosives, which left a chilly tingle spreading from his neck down his spine. He had learned to trust this sixth sense warning of danger. If he didn't do something about the explosives, he felt like something bad would happen.

The man came at him, drawing Danny's attention back to his first problem. Danny ducked as the man took a swing at him. The move was clumsy and predictable and easy to avoid. Danny countered, driving his own fist into the robber's gut. With a grunt, the man bent over and held his arms around his waist.

"You little punk!" he gasped, rage rumbling in the back of his throat. Ignoring the pain of the punch, the man lunged forward.

Danny didn't bother to dodge this time. He turned intangible, letting the man pass right through him. When he heard the robber crash to the floor, he smirked, perhaps a little smugly. But it was a brief moment of victory since he still had to deal with the explosives.

"Almost ready, Ned," Joe said, keeping his focus on wiring the explosives around the vault door.

Danny darted toward Joe to stop him. Or he would have if Ned hadn't recovered and tackled him from behind. He hit the floor, his face nearly smashing into the rough green carpet.

"Don't know how you did that freaky thing," Ned said, slamming an elbow down on Danny's head and holding it there. "Don't really care. You're not going to stop us from taking all the money in this here safe. So do yourself the favor and just stay out of the way."

The knock to the back of the head hurt. Danny had felt worse at the hands of the jocks at school, but that didn't stop him from wincing. He loved intangibility, when it worked. The robber's elbow slipped through his head after Danny turned intangible, and Ned cursed, sitting up quickly to rub at his aching elbow. While the robber was distracted, Danny rolled away from him then onto his feet.

"Maybe you should care a little," Danny suggested as he punched Ned in the face. The robber went down, holding his nose and groaning. Hopefully, this time he would stay down for longer than two seconds. "Now for you." He turned around to find the explosive expert in the pair of robbers staring at him with panic in his eyes.

Joe twisted back around. "I'm finishing this job!"

Danny shot forward and slammed the man into the vault door. Actually _through_ it, surprising Danny because he didn't know if his intangibility would extend to the man too. They landed on the floor within the vault, Danny on top of the man and holding him down. The alarm sounded then. He wasn't sure what set off the alarm, but it sent a tendril of panic snaking through him. He needed to get out of there before the police showed up. He had to think quickly. Glancing around the vault, he noticed those sacks with the drawstring tops. Scrambling off Joe, Danny hurried over to the bags while the robber groaned, complaining about his head. He grabbed hold of two drawstrings and phased them free of their bags, grinning when it worked.

"You stupid punk!" grumbled Joe as he sat up. "I think you nearly knocked out my tooth!" He pressed a finger to one his upper teeth and pushed it back and forth to see how loose it was. "Hey! What are you doing?"

Danny ignored the man as he dragged the robber over to one of the steel pipes running along the wall of the vault. Joe put up a struggle, but Danny eventually tied his hands behind his back to the pipe. "Just sit tight. Someone should be here to pick you up soon."

"No," Joe screamed bloody murder, and Danny backed up as the man's legs flailed and he fought against his restraints. "I won't go back! You can't make me go back to jail!"

"Maybe you should have considered that before you tried to rob a bank," Danny muttered under his breath. Then he phased through the vault door to take care of the other robber.

Ned was back on his feet and trying to finish the job for his partner. Luckily for Danny, it seemed Ned didn't _actually_ know much about wiring the explosives, despite his earlier grumblings to Joe. Danny kicked him in the knee, and Joe dropped to his other knee with a shout.

"You!" Ned growled with a darkening glare. He threw a punch as he rose to his feet again.

Danny twisted his torso to avoid the punch. Then he slammed his fist into the man's side, right under the arm. Ned gasped a spluttering of curses. While the robber was muttering, Danny tied Ned's hands behind his back. He pulled the cursing man with him when he walked back through the vault door. It was easier now, and Danny could only guess the reason. Maybe because he had a focus? Because he was using his powers for a reason rather than just blindly attempting to call them up? Whatever the reason, he was glad for it. He tied Ned to the pipe with his partner, neither man happy about how their burglary attempt had gone.

From outside, sirens screamed over the sound of the alarms. Danny was relieved, only because it meant he wouldn't have to deal with trying to disarm the explosives. He darted out the side of the vault as the robbers shouted their anger at him. Once he was outside, Danny glanced toward the entrance of the alley. Police cars were parked there with their lights flashing, but the police were all focused on storming into the bank to deal with the robbers.

Danny grabbed his bag from where he stored it then hurried off to someplace where it would be safer for him to change back into his normal clothing. The night didn't go how he hoped. He didn't find any clues about his sister's killer. But he had stopped a bank robbery, and part of him felt great about that as he left the bank behind him, keeping to the shadows of the night.


	28. Chapter 28

Danny woke up the next day with his head pounding. After departing the scene of the bank robbery, he decided to call it a night on the patrolling. The fight had drained him more than he realized until he got home. His mother waited for him, arms folded and foot tapping and an expression of displeasure for his lateness on her face. Danny pointed out that he was home before curfew then told her she didn't need to worry since he spent the whole time with Tucker and Sam, who dropped him off at home. The last part was a lie, but she didn't need to know that. When she finally sighed and gave in with a "I guess I can let it slide if you're with your friends," Danny was able to go up to his room. He was glad to crash on his bed, but before he passed out, he gave Tucker and Sam a call to let them know he got home in one piece. After he hung up his phone, he fell asleep immediately.

Danny lay in bed for another few minutes, staring at the ceiling. Normally, he would be happy about it being Saturday morning. No school. He could play his video games. Homework could wait until Sunday. But not today. He was still recovering from expending so much energy last night in the fight. There was also the funeral hanging over him. Danny rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms. Trying to hunt down clues to finding Jazz's killer had kept his mind distracted from the swiftly arriving funeral.

Finally, he got out of bed and wandered downstairs, holding a hand over his mouth as he yawned widely. It didn't surprise him to find his aunt already fussing around in the kitchen. Despite the plane ride from Arkansas, Aunt Alicia was always an early riser. Sometimes, Danny wondered how she had so much energy in the morning.

"Morning, Danny." Aunt Alicia drew him into a tight hug, squeezing the air out of him before she released him.

Danny always thought his father had trouble knowing his own strength, but his aunt hugged a lot harder. He never mentioned it out loud that they had that in common. His aunt probably wouldn't like knowing she had anything in common with his father. The thought wiped away any small smile about to curl upon his lips. He never liked hearing when his aunt said something bad about his father. He knew his father could be a bit oblivious sometimes, and clumsy, but he was a great father and cared a lot. If he was there that night, Danny had no doubts his father would have done everything he could to keep Jazz safe. Unlike him, who had walked away without thinking about what could happen then stood dumbly after hearing the gunshot.

"You doing all right?" Aunt Alicia kept a hand on Danny's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, which made Danny wince only slightly.

"Uh, yeah," Danny said with a light shrug. "Just, you know, a tough night."

Aunt Alicia nodded, understanding how difficult it was on the family. She might not have been in their lives a lot, but the time they did spend together was enough. Danny wasn't the only one who learned to pick locks from Aunt Alicia if Jazz had sneaked into the laboratory on occasion too. Danny wouldn't be surprised if Jazz learned to fight from their aunt and mother like he had, though Jazz always looked for a pacifist's means of resolving a problem. But even knowing how to fight wouldn't have helped Jazz if she was surprised by a man with a gun. The whole thing would have happened too fast for her to react in defense. Danny bit down on his tongue, thinking again about how he should have been there to protect his sister.

"Take a seat." Aunt Alicia nudged him toward the kitchen table. "I'll have some pancakes whipped up in a second."

Danny merely nodded then took a seat at the table. He was eating his fifth pancake when his parents strolled into the kitchen. His mother brushed back some his raven locks and kissed his temple before she walked over to the counter to make a pot of coffee. But her sister shooed her away, saying she would take care of breakfast for the family. Once he was finished with his breakfast, Danny headed back upstairs. He took a quick shower then returned to his room to get dressed for the funeral. As part of the preparations, his mother had gotten his suit ready for the occasion.

When he was dressed in the all black suit, Danny returned downstairs to wait in the front room. He stared at the game console beneath the television. A part of him was half tempted to boot up his game and see if D was online. Instead, he pulled out his phone and stared at the screen for a while. Did he dare to send a text to D? But his sister's death was too personal. They had talked a bit about likes and dislikes, but they hadn't talked about things like family. He didn't know how to broach the subject with someone he barely knew. He couldn't just text something like, "Hey, my sister died recently and I'm hurting really bad." He wasn't looking for pity from the other man.

"Are you ready to go?" his mother asked, walking into the room when it was finally time for them to leave for the funeral. His parents did sometimes wear normal clothes, instead of their usual jumpsuits, but Danny still found it strange to see them out of their teal and orange jumpsuits. His mother now wore a simple black dress.

Danny bobbed his head as he stood from the couch. His father was dressed similar to him in a black suit. His aunt had on black overalls and a black and gray plaid shirt. They piled into the car, and his father drove them to the church. The ride was eerily silent, and Danny was happy when they finally arrived so he could escape the quiet.

Despite the short notice, Danny was surprised by the number of people who showed up to the funeral. He almost thought the whole school came. When Dash arrived, they stood there staring at each other for an awkward moment. Danny didn't want to start anything at his sister's funeral, and apparently Dash had enough respect for Jazz to want to keep the peace. Breaking the still moment, Danny nodded stiffly, and Dash copied him.

"Sorry for your loss," Dash said quietly with no anger or hatred in his voice.

Danny opened his mouth then frowned when he couldn't think of anything to say in response. What was he even supposed to say? "Thanks" sounded pretty lame in his mind. "I'm sorry too," he finally said. "I know you cared a lot about Jazz."

Dash raked a hand through his slicked back blond hair like he was trying to play it cool. "She was an amazing girl. She deserved someone better than me anyway." He walked into the church before Danny could even respond to that comment.

Other A Listers passed him with a simple "sorry for you loss." Star didn't seem too thrilled about even speaking to him, but she tried to be polite. Paulina gave him a twinge of a smile while the other A Listers couldn't see it. Kwan didn't care what any of the other A Listers might say. He clapped Danny on the shoulder than dragged him into a hug. It was odd, but Danny appreciated the attempt to comfort him. The hugging worked better when Tucker and Sam showed up, squeezing him tightly before they entered the church to find a place to sit.

When he turned back around, Danny nearly jumped to see Valerie standing before him. Her mouth pursed slightly, and her brow creased. Danny half expected her to punch him. He gave her a wary look, not sure if he should speak first. Her father was greeting his parents, letting them know he was doing his best to hunt down Jazz's killer.

"Your sister was all right," Valerie said, staring off to the side. "Look. I-" When her gaze met his, she faltered then shook her head. "I'm sorry. Jazz was a really good person. School isn't going to be the same without her."

Danny was still puzzling over what Valerie might have said when Mr. Gray stepped over to them, placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder. He offered his condolences to Danny before he and his daughter walked into the church. The crowd thinned, fewer people showing up for the funeral. Danny smiled a little to himself when Lancer arrived. The vice principal and English teacher had always liked Jazz. She was basically an ideal student for any teacher: smart, well behaved, inquisitive, always ready to engage in conversations, eager to learn, and offered her help whenever possible. Valerie was right. School would feel a lot different without Jazz's presence.

"Danny," Lancer greeted with a grave nod. "Are you holding up okay?"

"As well as can be expected, I guess." Danny shrugged.

"Edward."

Danny glanced over at the interruption, gazing at his aunt.

"Alicia," Lancer responded, and the two adults stared at each other, neither seeming happy to see the other.

"You know each other?" Danny's brow furrowed.

Aunt Alicia dropped her gaze to Danny then laughed as she smacked a hand to his back. "This ain't my first time in Amity Park, y'know."

"Isn't," Lancer corrected out of habit of being an English teacher.

"Oh, don't you start with me!" Aunt Alicia pointed a finger at him.

"Ahem!" his mothered interrupted, frowning at his sister. "I think it's time we go in."

Lancer seemed to be the end of the guests to arrive. "My apologies," the teacher said with a bow of his head. "I didn't mean to stir up any arguments." He turned to Aunt Alicia. "I have to grade many poorly written essays almost daily. I suppose I've developed a habit of correcting grammar."

"I guess I can forgive ya." Aunt Alicia punched Lancer on the shoulder, and the teacher frowned, rubbing his arm.

They entered the church together, but as the family walked up the aisle, Lancer broke away to find his own place to sit. Danny and his family sat in the front pew with his aunt on the outside and his parents between them. As the funeral began and the priest spoke, his father struggled to keep from crying. Danny reached over, placing a hand on his father back as tears welled up in his blue eyes. When a few people got up to say some words about Jazz, it got even harder to hold back the tears. Danny's throat felt tight, a swollen, aching lump sticking there as hot tears stung at his eyes. The people who spoke talked about how nice Jazz was and helpful and smart and how much she would be missed.

By the end of the ceremony, Danny felt drained, maybe a little emotionally raw, but he got up when his name was called. He took his place on one side of the coffin, directly across from Tucker. Even though they had no body to bury, his parents decided to still have a coffin. They said it would help make the funeral feel more real and something about it helping with closure, or something. Danny didn't pay full attention. The funeral director was fairly understanding and said he would keep the coffin ready for when they could properly bury Jazz in the plot they had purchased. The tombstone was still being engraved.

After they loaded the coffin into the back of the hearse, it was time to return to their house, which was already set up with food from a catering service. Danny didn't want to deal with talking to people after the funeral, not if they were all going to tell him the same sympathetic lines and give him those looks of pity. The whole thing sounded awkward and annoying to him, especially if he had to talk to most of the A List who came to the funeral.

Thankfully, Danny only had to spend a few minutes mingling with the guests who decided to come back to their house after the funeral. Once his parents and aunt were no longer paying attention to him, Danny grabbed his friends and the three of them headed upstairs to his bedroom. He closed the door and locked it so no one would accidentally barge in on them.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked with concern as she sat on the foot of his bed.

"Well," Danny scratched at the back of his head and pulled out his chair from his desk, "all right, I guess." He moved it closer to the bed and sat down on it, backwards so he could rest his folded arms over the top of the back. Unfortunately, the funeral only made Jazz's death feel all the more final. He couldn't think of pretending anymore. She was gone.

Perhaps Tucker sensed his friend didn't want to dwell on the funeral because he asked, "So no clues last night?"

Danny shook his head, frowning as he lowered his gaze. "I didn't think the burglars hitting the bank had anything to do with the people who killed Jazz. So far, they only seem to be robbing from places that deal with medicine or science stuff."

"Well, I don't think you can entirely rule out that they might hit banks too," Sam said. She sighed in exasperation when the two men stared at her with puzzled expressions. "Whatever they plan on doing with the stuff they stole from my parents - Well, they stole experimental stuff, from what I could get from my parents."

"In other words, you eavesdropped on them." Tucker grinned while Sam scowled.

"That's the only way I would get any information out of them. My parents don't exactly want to talk work with me." Sam huffed. "Anyway, they might run tests on it to work out a stable drug to sell, and for that they would need equipment, which means they need money."

"That's assuming they won't just pass out the drug without caring about the side effects it'll have on people," Danny pointed out, and his friend's expressions darkened.

"That's even scarier," Sam said. "I don't know what exactly the drugs do, or are meant to do, since my parents wouldn't say anything about what specifically was stolen beyond they were still in testing. For all we know, the drug could be highly lethal if used on people. They weren't even into human testing of the drugs."

Danny rubbed at his forehead. What had he gotten dragged into? All he wanted was to find his sister's killer. But he couldn't simply ignore the possible danger these people might pose to the citizens of Amity Park.

"So you were actually able to phase another person through a wall?" Tucker asked, shifting the topic with a grin of excitement.

"Yeah." Danny smiled a little, feeling more at ease with this topic. "I was shocked! I mean, sure, I wanted to phase us through the vault door. But I didn't know it would actually work. I had never successfully turned something else intangible, let alone another person. I guess when I have a focus, like stopping a bank robbery, my powers work better."

Sam looked thoughtful, holding her chin in her hand. "Is there anything your parents have said about ghosts that might explain it? You've gone through most of their research, haven't you?"

Danny stared, his brain running through everything he knew about ghosts from his parents. Then he sat up a bit straighter and snapped his fingers. "My parents are always talking about how ghosts have an obsession. Like if someone was murdered, their ghost might focus on revenge and become obsessed with it. The stronger the obsession, the stronger their power is supposed to grow. Maybe my powers didn't work as well before because I didn't have an obsession, or at least a focus for them. If my obsession is stopping these criminals, protecting people, maybe I'll be able to use my powers more easily." Then he shrugged. "It's a theory at least."

"Sounds like a good theory," Sam said, but it was still only a theory.

"Oh! Hey, check this out." Tucker pulled out his phone. After a bit of searching, he turned the screen toward Danny. On the phone, a video played of a news report.

"Ugh, Lance Thunder!" Danny groaned at the sight of the blond reporter.

"Wait. Just watch," Tucker said, nearly bouncing next to Sam on the bed.

Danny sighed but listened to the news report.

"The burglars claim to have been attacked by some mysterious apparition," Lance was saying, frowning in a serious expression. "They say this _specter_ appeared out of nowhere to apprehend them before police could arrive. Police artists have come up this sketch based on their description." Lance was replaced with an hand drawn image.

"That doesn't even look like me!" Danny complained.

"Their attacker vanished after tying them up in the bank's vault," Lance continued, his obnoxious face reappearing on screen. "But I ask you: Is this specter a friend or foe? Well, I'll tell you this: We can't trust this vigilante. What right does this specter have to take the law into his own hands? We have-"

Tucker shut off the video then tucked his phone back into his pocket. "You're famous already!"

"Yeah, but he keeps calling me specter." Danny's nose wrinkled. "That's pretty lame." He wasn't doing any of this to be famous either, but he decided not to say that when he saw the excitement in his friend's eyes.

"Well, it's better than spook," Sam offered with a wince.

"Ugh! That _would_ be worse." Danny could already hear his father using the exclamation "suffering spooks!" and he shuddered. "I need something cooler to use as a name." But he frowned when he realized he didn't have any idea what name to use."

"What about-" Tucker stroked in his chin, deep in thought. "Well, you're last name is Fenton. So what about something like," he spread his hands out before him, "Danny Phantom?"

Danny laughed. "I guess Fenton and Phantom do sound pretty close."

"Yeah, but using your first name?" Sam frowned. "Wouldn't that be a bit obvious?"

"I guess you're right." Danny scratched the side of his head. "Then just Phantom? It sounds better than Specter to me." His friends nodded in agreement.

"So are we going to start calling ourselves Team Phantom?" Tucker grinned, which got another laugh out of Danny while Sam rolled her eyes.


	29. Chapter 29

"Checkmate. Ha!" Aunt Alicia grinned widely after she placed her queen to check his king.

Danny looked up from his homework then groaned when he saw she was right. "That's the fifth time you've beaten me!"

"Not too shabby, eh?" His aunt grinned as she reset the board.

After the funeral, Danny tried to spend some of his time with his aunt before she had to leave. With school, homework, tutoring Elle, and his late night adventures hunting for his sister's killer, he had a small window in which he could talk with his aunt. She said she didn't mind, understanding Danny couldn't simply put his life on hold just for her. But when Danny continued to look guilty, Aunt Alicia suggested they play chess while Danny did his homework. Danny wondered if she knew he and his father would play chess a lot. He still hadn't beaten his father once in all their years of playing.

In the background, Danny had the news playing. He glanced at the television, and his mouth curved downward as Lance Thunder talked about the vigilante "Specter" terrorizing the town. The name still bugged him, but Danny wasn't sure how he could get the reporter to call him by the name his friends and he decided on: Phantom. But what had him more annoyed was the lack of clues he had found so far. Since his first outing as Phantom, Danny had stopped another burglary and prevented some jerk from stealing an old lady's purse. Now it was Tuesday afternoon, and Danny hadn't seen any evidence of the people robbing medical facilities for their drugs.

"We have got to do something about this," Lance Thunder yelled at the screen. "We can't allow these costumed crazies to run free in our city. What do say you, Officer Walker?" The reporter turned to the man next to him, holding his microphone out for the officer.

Walker was a tall man, but despite his board shoulders, his face looked gaunt and worn, skeletal almost. He glared at the camera with a severe expression. "These vigilantes might think they're doing good, but they are hindering police investigations. They have taken the law into their own hands, and for that, they are no better than the criminals they tie up or kill. But the people of Amity Park have nothing to fear. We, the police, shall apprehend these vigilantes soon enough."

The television clicked off then as Aunt Alicia huffed. "He only chose to speak with that bonehead because Walker would share his same view on these so-called vigilantes."

"You don't share their opinion?" Danny blinked as he glanced toward his aunt.

"Who am I to say?" With a shrug, she moved a pawn two spaced forward on the chessboard. "These people must have their reasons for doing what they're doing."

"Ah, Danny," his father peeked in from the kitchen, "can I have a word with you?"

An icy cold lump of dread settled in the pit of Danny's stomach. Could his father know? No, that was silly. But his father's appearance felt too well timed while Danny and Aunt Alicia talked about the masked vigilantes. Danny climbed to his feet and followed his father into the kitchen. "Um. You wanted to talk to me?" Danny tried to smile, but it was forced and he winced partly.

"Your mother and I talked." His father stood with his arms folded over his wide chest. "And do you feel like going to the pound today to pick out a dog?"

Danny's brain ground to a halt, the words slowly digesting before fully registering. "Wait. Are you being serious?" He almost didn't dare to smile. "You're going to let me get a dog?"

"Well, we decided you're a mature young adult now. We think you're capable of taking care of a dog. However," his father stared sternly as he pointed a finger at his son, "if you ever neglect your responsibilities, we won't hesitate to return the dog to the pound."

"No! No, no! I'll take care of everything." Danny bobbed his head, grinning madly. "And I know just the dog I want."

"Then," his father pulled out his wallet, "I guess I can trust you to take care of everything without your dad holding your hand the whole time." He held out a credit card for Danny to take.

"Thank you!" Danny jumped forward to hug his father. "I promise I'm going to take care of everything and you're going to love the dog." He hoped his parents would like Cujo, at least. He wouldn't know for sure until they actually met the puppy. After he took the credit card, he gave his father another hug. "I'll be back before you know it!"

Danny darted back into the front room where his aunt had taken to flipping through the television stations for something decent to watch. He grabbed his coat to throw on over his hooded sweatshirt as the weather began to grow colder each day. His excitement was hard to contain, but when he glanced at his aunt, he felt a bit guilty for interrupting the short time they had together.

"I'll be back by dinner," Danny assured her as he tucked his father's credit card into his wallet then stuffed the wallet back into his jeans pocket. "Then we can have our rematch. I'm going to beat you this time."

"Ha!" Aunt Alicia's mouth curled at one corner. "You'll need a few more decades of practice to beat me."

"Just you wait. When you least suspect it, I will rise up and win!" Danny let out an evil laugh, which was ruined when he coughed in the middle of it. The evil laugh irritated his throat. How did villains do it? "See you when I get back!" He waved then jogged into the front hall.

After he stepped outside, Danny still had trouble believing his parents were actually allowing him to get a dog like he had always wanted. The smile remained plastered on his face as he walked down the street and he knew he probably looked ridiculous, but he didn't care. His parents were letting him adopt Cujo! He was way too happy about that to let looking stupid get him down.

As he grew closer to the spot where he ran into Cujo the night he confronted Spike, Danny realized he had no idea how to contact the hooded man. How was he going to find them so he could tell the man the good news about being able to adopt Cujo? Danny raked a hand through his hair and sighed. He really hadn't thought any of this through at all. Strolling around the area, he glanced around for any sign of the puppy. Then he heard a familiar bark, and a smile broke across his face. Cujo bounded past him, skidded, then spun back around toward him. Danny laughed as the puppy barked and balanced on his back legs as he jumped up on Danny.

"Hey, Cujo." Danny crouched down and scratched behind the puppy's ears.

"You shouldn't hang out so close to a dangerous neighborhood."

Danny twisted his head around and stared up at the man, catching a smirk under the shadows of his crimson hood. "I didn't know where else I could find you."

"Oh?" The man's mouth twitched in another smirk. "You were looking for me?"

"Well, I was looking more for Cujo." Danny couldn't help a teasing smirk when the man frowned, bordering on a pout. "Okay. Maybe a little to see you too. But the good news is, my dad said I could adopt Cujo."

"That's great!" The man smiled, a big, wide, happy smile. "You hear that, little guy? You get to go home to a great family?" Cujo barked in response.

Danny noticed a leash attached to the collar Cujo wore. He guessed the man must have gotten them to take Cujo on walks, and when he saw Danny, the man released the leash so Cujo could run over to greet Danny. Picking up the leash, Danny stood. "Say, um-" Danny rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little awkward. "You don't have to, but you've been keeping an eye on Cujo all this time, so if you want, you could come with me." He looked away, tugging at one ear as his cheeks warmed against the cool afternoon air. "But you can say no. It'll probably be boring."

"It can't be that boring if you're going to be there."

Danny ignored the twist in his gut when the man smirked again. "Um, okay then." He expected the man to say no outright. "Then I guess just follow me." He kept a tight hold of the leash as he walked down the street. Glancing to his side as the man fell into step beside him, Danny pulled out his phone to look up a good veterinarian near his house and the directions to get there. "You're always wearing your hood up," he noted then felt like kicking himself for even speaking.

"Ah." The man reached up and touched the top of his hood like he was going to tug it down farther. "I don't like the sun too much. Sensitive eyes."

Danny tilted his head forward, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man's face. But the shadows made it impossible to see anything, to his disappointment. They walked for several blocks in awkward silence, Danny uncertain of what else to say. He bit the inside of his cheek, wondering if the man didn't like him asking about the hood.

"So your parents finally let you adopt," the man said, breaking the silence.

"Yup." Danny bobbed his head. According to the directions on his phone, they were a few minutes away from the veterinarian. "My dad kind of surprised me with it. He said they decided I was mature enough to take care of a dog."

"That's great for you." The man reached over and ruffled Danny's raven locks.

Danny ducked his head with a small smile. "Um, so-" He shrugged awkwardly. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble. Watching Cujo."

The man shook his head. "It was fun. Me and him. We bonded. It was good."

Danny laughed. "Dogs are good for bonding. Oh, look. We're here." He reached to open the door, but the man beat him to it, pulling the door open with a small bow. "How gentlemanly." He entered the veterinarian, and the man followed behind him. He guessed it was a slow time for them because the place was quiet as he stepped up to the desk where a woman sat.

"Hello," she greeted pleasantly with a smile on her face. "Do you have an appointment?"

"No," Danny answered, "we found a stray dog that I want to adopt. And I thought it would be a good idea to get him looked at before going home. Is there a vet available? Or do I need to make an appointment for later?"

She typed at the computer for a moment, brushing back her orange-red hair behind an ear. "It looks like Doctor Sanders is available right now. If you'll wait just a moment." She stood then disappeared through a door, leaving Danny and his mysterious friend to wait at the front desk while Cujo sniffed around at the cream colored carpet. Luckily, the woman didn't leave them hanging around for long. "Right this way," she said when she reappeared.

Danny followed after her, leading the way as Cujo barked happily. The puppy nearly tripped him when he danced around under Danny's feet, but the hooded man caught him by the arm and helped to steady him. The woman showed them to one of the exam rooms, saying the veterinarian would be in to see them soon.

"Sorry this isn't the most exciting thing ever," Danny said with a wince as he took a seat in the plastic chair in one corner of the room.

The man leaned against the wall, standing next to where Danny sat. "I've had worse dates," he admitted with a shrug.

"Date?" Danny's voice cracked, and his eyes widened as his head jerked up to stare at the man.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Sanders," greeted a woman as she entered the room. She wore a cheery smile upon her dark brown face, her brown eyes twinkling behind her glasses. "And who is this adorable fellow?" She crouched down to give the puppy a pat on the head.

Danny sat numb, until the man gave him a small nudge on the shoulder. "Cujo!" he answered, a bit louder than necessarily. He winced. "Cujo," he said at a more normal speech volume. "I'm adopting him. He was a stray. Or at least, I assume he is since he didn't have a collar when I found him. So I just wanted to bring him in to get checked out and make sure he's healthy and stuff."

Doctor Sanders nodded as she picked up Cujo and lifted him onto the examining table in the middle of the room. "You should definitely start him on something to protect him from fleas." She ran her hands through his fur, occasionally stopping to part sections of the fur and leaning in close to examine the puppy. "I don't see any signs that he has fleas, and he doesn't seem to be scratching at all, so that's good."

Danny watched the woman as she examined Cujo to make sure the puppy was healthy, but his attention kept straying to the man next to him. He glanced out the corner of his eye, trying to subtly observe the man. Did he actually consider this a date? Or was the man just teasing him? Danny wasn't sure what answer he wanted. Technically, they were still strangers, as he didn't even know the man's name. Besides the man was way older than he, which wasn't necessarily a big deal except Danny was still only seventeen. But Danny felt a little depressed thinking the man would tease him like that.

"Well, Cujo, it looks like you're in good health." Doctor Sanders turned to them.

Danny got up from his chair then ruffled the top of Cujo's head. "Isn't that good news? All healthy!" He grinned widely, happy to know Cujo wasn't sick or had anything else wrong with him.

"Lily will print you out copies of the paperwork for your own keeping," Doctor Sanders explained, making some notes in her own file. "And of course, paying for the visit."

Danny nodded, wincing internally. He hoped his father wouldn't be too angry with the bill for the visit to the veterinarian. But it was better to have the puppy checked out right away instead of waiting and discovering something was wrong down the road. "Thank you for seeing us on such short notice."

Doctor Sanders shook her head. "It's quite all right. We get walk ins often enough." She closed up the folder with the file and tucked it under her arm. "I hope I won't have reason to see this cutie," she scratched under Cujo's chin, "again other than regular checkups. You can make arrangements with Lily for that." She smiled and nodded to them. "Have a good day."

"Thanks," Danny said as Doctor Sanders left them in the examining room. Then he turned to the man, still leaning against the wall. "Uh, well, I guess we better go pay for this little visit. Uh, though you're free to go if you don't want to hang around for that boring stuff."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily." The man pushed away from the wall and stepped over to where Danny stood at the examining table. "Besides, who knows when I'll get to see this little guy again?" He lifted Cujo from the table, holding the puppy up in the air over him but somehow keeping his face hidden.

"You think I'm never going to let you see him again?" Danny raised an eyebrow at him, letting out a short laugh of amusement. He led the way out of the exam room and back to the lobby of the veterinarian.

"Well, our meetings seem to be of the chance variety," the man said, setting Cujo down once they reached the lobby so the puppy could continue his sniffing and exploring while Danny dealt with the paperwork.

"I'll be walking him," Danny said, handing over his father's credit card to pay the bill. "I could always bring him around-"

"Not to my neighborhood." The man shook his head when Danny glanced at him.

"How about the park then?" Danny suggested. He turned to smile at Lily as she place a paper before him to sign. "I can take him there on weekends, and you can pop by whenever you're free to visit him." He handed the paper back to Lily.

"Anyone ever tell you you're a little odd?"

Danny stuffed the credit card back into his wallet then shoved it into his pocket. "Um, I don't know what to say to that." He forced a smile to Lily. "Thanks." He gathered up his copy of the paperwork then turned around to the man and Cujo.

"I didn't mean it as a bad thing," the man assured him as he stood up. "You're a little odd, but I like that about you." He grinned under his hood as he handed over the leash. "Most people probably wouldn't want to keep hanging out with me." His grin remained, but there was something sad about it.

"I haven't seen any reason not to want to meet you again," Danny admitted, trying to play the comment off as cool with a shrug. "And anyway, you took care of Cujo for me. If Cujo likes you, you can't be all bad."

The man laughed. "They say animals are a good judge of people, don't they?" His hand dropped onto Danny's head and ruffled his raven locks. "So," the man pulled back his hand, which then disappeared into his hood as he rubbed the back of his neck, "you probably have other things to do and stuff, but I still have some of that puppy chow left over. If you want it. I won't be needing it anymore."

Danny blinked. Was the man trying to make excuses for them to spend just a little more time together? "Yeah!" he answered before thinking too much about his response. "That would be great."

The man's smile almost seemed relieved. "Great. Um, follow me then." He opened the door and held it for Danny as Cujo happily tried to race ahead. The puppy probably would have run off without a care in the world if Danny hadn't kept a tight hold on the leash. They walked down the street, the man directing where they went. "Uh, I'll warn you up front. My apartment doesn't look the greatest.

Danny shrugged. "That's okay."

He didn't expect a five star hotel or anything. From the way the man dressed in plain hooded sweatshirts and jeans. Danny glanced the man over critically and noticed the somewhat raggedness of the jeans. They frayed along the seams, and he had a tear around the knee. No, he had no doubts that the man couldn't afford a room at a five star hotel.

"So," Danny grinned, "do you do this often? Take care of strays for random strangers who confess they plan to adopt them?"

The man shook his head. "Never. But," he tilted his head downward, his gaze falling to the puppy, "I guess I felt a kinship with the little guy. I couldn't just let him wander the streets alone."

"Thanks." After a moment, Danny snapped his head around to the man. "I should pay you back. You know, for taking caring of Cujo, and the dog food, and you got him the leash and collar. How much was all of that? I'll pay for it."

"No, no!" The man shook his head. "You are not paying me for any of that."

Danny huffed. "Now you sound like Kwan." The jock wouldn't let him give him anything in thanks for being the nice guy he was and stepping in to avert some of the other jocks' attacks.

"Kwan? Should I be jealous?"

Danny laughed. "No, he's just a guy at school that's helped me out a time or two." More like dozens upon dozens of times. "You just reminded me of him a bit just now."

"Ah." The man nodded. "Well, here we are." He turned to Danny, stretching out one arm in gesture to the building behind him. "My humble abode."

"Nice." Danny smiled, but he had to force it when he stared at the building. It looked about as bad as the apartment building where he confronted Spike. He shouldn't be surprised when both buildings were in the same neighborhood.

The man entered, holding the door for him, and Danny followed, cringing when the lobby's floorboard creaked under their feet. The wallpaper peeled away in some sections, revealing a gross browning yellow color underneath it. They walked up the stairs, as the building lacked an elevator, to the second floor where the man's apartment was. Inside the apartment wasn't much better than what Danny had already seen. The man only had a ratty looking recliner with the stuffing spilling out from a tear on the seat and an old television sitting on a rickety table.

"Charming," Danny mumbled at the lack of furnishing.

"It isn't much, but it's home." The man shrugged as he walked over to a small kitchen area of the apartment. He crouched down, picking up the bowls he had bought for Cujo's food and water. After dumping what was left in the water bowl into the sink, he carried the bowls and a bag of dog food over to Danny. "Oh, I have something else."

"Oh, you don't really-" Danny sighed when the man disappeared through a door, which he guessed led to the bedroom. He crouched, setting the bowls and food and the floor. Then he scratched at Cujo's belly when the puppy rolled onto his back. "Well, you at least seemed to have enjoyed your stay here." He smile as Cujo's tongue lulled out the side of his mouth.

"Here we - Not again."

Danny twisted around to find the man flipping the switch up and down with a frown. "What's wrong?"

"The power went out again." He turned to Danny. "Now I know this place is pretty much a dump, but the landlord is pretty good about keeping up with the electrical bills. Now the power seems to go out like crazy." He gave up on the light switch with a sigh. "Anyway, I thought you should have this. Cujo seems to like it. He wouldn't sleep without it." The man held out a small stuffed toy, vaguely human shaped dressed in black and white, which looked hand knitted. When the puppy saw it, Cujo immediately flipped back onto his feet and grabbed onto the toy, digging his teeth into it.

Danny chuckled. "Okay. I guess I have to take it if Cujo likes it so much." He gathered up the bowls and bag of dog food then stood. "Um, are you sure I can't pay you back for this?"

"I already told you, you don't need to. So stop asking."

"Okay. Okay." Danny sighed dramatically. "But really. Thanks. I really appreciate that you took care of Cujo for me."

The man shrugged, looking away like the thanks embarrassed him. "I liked looking after the little guy. So you don't have to keep thanking me."

With a laugh, Danny shook his head. "Well, I'm going to thank you whether you like it or not." Then he sighed. "Okay. I should probably get going. My parents will be expecting me to be home soon."

"Ah, yes." The man smirked a little. "Can't let you get in trouble when your parents finally let you adopt this little guy."

"Yeah," Danny agreed with a nod. "Well, um, I guess I'll see on a weekend if you decide to stop by the park."

"Catch you around later, kid." He walked Danny to the door and yanked it open, almost ripping it off its rusty hinges.

"Bye." Danny waved with the hand holding the leash before he turned to walk down the hall. He was half a block away from the apartment building when a thought occurred to him. "Ah!" He nearly smacked himself in the forehead after the missed opportunity. Why did he seem to always forget to ask the man what his name was? After he released a sigh, he glanced down at Cujo. "Well, are you ready to see your new home?" Cujo barked in response, and Danny smiled. Maybe next time he would remember to get the man's name.


	30. Chapter 30

"Sorry we have to cut our tutoring short," Elle said while she sat, cross legged, on her bed and watched as Danny packed up his things. "My dad has a thing tonight." She rolled her eyes. "I don't want to go, but it's for his business partners and important investors, so he's kind of forcing me to go. He wants me to greet and mingle with them to get to know the people I'll be working with in the future." She sighed, hunching up her shoulders as she hung her head.

Danny frowned as he stood up straight, shouldering his bag. "That's pretty much how my friend feels about doing similar things for her parents. Except she would probably try to spend the whole time talking to the people about reducing pollution and the health benefits of being a vegan and all that. Anything to drive her parents crazy."

"I envy that she gets away with stuff like that." Elle drew up her knees, hugging them to her chest. "My dad would be so," she drew out the word, "pissed at me if I did anything to embarrass him."

Danny walked over to the bed then rested a hand on her head, ruffling her ebony hair slightly. He wished he was like Lancer and always knew the right thing to say in any situation. But what could he say? Maybe if you talked about things with your father he would understand your feelings? From the way Mr. Masters talked, Danny doubted the man would listen to any of his daughter's life goals. Mr. Masters was set on Elle inheriting his company in the future.

"Things will," Danny hesitated for a brief second, "be okay. So your father doesn't think getting into the music business is a good career option. Try it anyway. You should at least try for your dreams, or you'll spend your life regretting it."

Elle's mouth twitched in a small smile. "And what's your dream? To become a shrink?"

"No, that's Jazz's dre-" Danny lowered his gaze away, a dull ache in his chest. Then he shrugged. "I've listened to my sister do the shrink talk all my life. I was bound to pick up on some of it."

"Oh." Elle glanced away with a guilty look in her blue eyes. "Sorry. I thought about going to the funeral, but, well, I never even met your sister. I didn't want to be rude or anything. And I wouldn't have known anyone there other than you, so it would have been a lot of awkward."

Danny shook his head. "Don't feel guilty about not coming. It's really okay." He couldn't help feeling that Jazz and Elle would have gotten along if they had had the opportunity to meet. "Anyway, I should probably leave you to get ready for your dad's business party, and I still have some homework to get done." And patrolling to do. Danny hoped maybe tonight he would find a clue about his sister's killer.

"Don't spend all your time with your nose in your books." Elle got up from her bed and tweaked his nose. "You can be boring when you're an adult. But you're young. Have a little fun. It's a Friday night after all."

"Hey!" Danny protested, swatting at the hand as Elle laughed. "I have plenty of fun. And part of my homework is writing up an essay for the book we just read in class. That's going to eat up quite a bit of my time looking up symbolism and whatnot in the book." Danny could get his essay written up within a few hours, but he decided to let Elle think it would take him much longer.

Elle patted him on the shoulder. "Well, be sure to take some breaks. I don't want your brain frying from too much work. I need you to tutor me." She stared at him seriously for a moment before a grin cracked her face.

Danny laughed with a light shake of his head. "Right. I'll totally go out and hit some clubs and party around to break up the stress of doing hours and hours of homework."

"That's all I ask." Elle laughed too. Then she shoved him toward the door of her room. "All right. Out you go. I have to get dressed now."

"I'll see you at our next tutor session then." Danny stepped out of the bedroom as Elle shouted her goodbye. After he closed the door behind him, he walked down the hall toward the stairs. He couldn't believe a week already passed since his first outing as Phantom. Unfortunately, that news reporter Lance Thunder kept calling him Specter and saying he was a menace interfering with police work. His jaw set, and he glowered at the floor as he walked toward the front door. He was doing the best he could with the powers he had, though he wished the criminals he encountered had something to tell him about Jazz's killer. So far, he wasn't able to question the robbers much before the police showed up after an alarm went off to alert them to the robbery in progress.

Danny reached the door when he overheard someone talking in a room off the front hall. _I should just leave_ , he told himself. But his curiosity got the better of him, and he crept closer toward the doorway to the den. Mr. Masters was on the phone with someone, and when he glanced around the doorway, Danny saw the man standing before the fireplace, staring up at the landscape painting over it.

"I am not the one that has broken our deal," Mr. Masters said, keeping his voice calm. He snorted a laugh. "I'm afraid that is _not_ my doing." He held one hand behind his back, and he kept curling and uncurling his fingers, like a tick of frustration. "Trust me. I wish I could lay claim to that. Imagine the possibilities if what they say is true."

When Mr. Masters turned, Danny caught a cruel smirk twisting upon his face. He ducked out of sight before Mr. Masters could see him eavesdropping on his private phone call. Once he escaped out the front door, Danny breathed easier. But what was Mr. Masters talking about? What wasn't his doing? Danny shook his head as he turned down the street. Mr. Masters' business wasn't any of his, and Danny knew he shouldn't be poking into it. Mr. Masters' company had dozens and dozens of projects being worked on at any one time, and he had contracts with multiple other companies. The conversation he overheard shouldn't be suspicious, but he still had a funny feeling tickling the back of his mind.

Danny hurried home. The sun was already setting, and he wanted to go on patrol as soon as it was dark. Before they left school that day, Tucker told him he was almost finished with the radio to listen in on the police radio. If he didn't come across anything on his own, Danny had his friends keeping an ear out for anything happening on the radio. When he got home, he jogged up the stairs to his room, tossed his bag onto his bed, then yanked open his closet. He kept his costume hidden there, though his parents didn't tend to enter his room without his permission. Not since he was a kid and his mother would put away his clean laundry. Now his dirty laundry was his own responsibility so his mother kept out of his room. He was about to get changed when his phone buzzed at his hip.

"I'm not even out there yet," Danny muttered as he dug his hand into his pocket. Tucker couldn't already have a robbery to report to him. He opened the text message then blinked when he realized it wasn't from Tucker or Sam.

[ _Will b out of reach. Will contact when able to again_.]

Danny frowned. Why would D be unreachable? Where was he going? A second message came a moment later.

[ _Don't worry! I'll b safe. ;)_ ]

The message didn't exactly reassure Danny. What was D going to be doing? He was just a headhunter for a company, wasn't he? Was there a reason Danny _should_ be worried? With a growl, he tossed the phone next to his bag on the bed. He wasn't going to worry about the texts, even though they did make him worry a little. He changed into the costume then pulled on his regular clothes over it and stuffed the gloves and boots into his bag. After staring at it for a moment, Danny picked up his phone and chewed on his lower lip. Should he respond to D's texts? He wasn't sure what to say though. Thinking on it, he tapped his finger against the side of his phone.

[ _Will miss talking to you. Don't stay away too long_.]

Danny stared at his response for a moment longer then hit send. He bumped the top of his phone against his forehead, feeling a little silly about the whole thing. With a sigh, he stuffed his phone into his pocket the grabbed his bag. He jogged downstairs, hopping the last three steps to the floor. Cujo met him there with a bark. Danny dropped to a crouch and scratched his hand over the puppy's back.

"Hey, boy," he greeted with a grin. "Are you looking forward to your walk to the park tomorrow?" He shouldn't expect the hooded man to be there, but a part of him held out hope. "Now you," he cupped Cujo's face and lifted the puppy's head to look at him, "be good while I'm gone. I don't want you getting into trouble because you chewed on something." Danny chuckled when Cujo licked his face. "I'm going to hanging out with Tucker and Sam," he called to his parents as he stood. "We'll just hang out. Maybe catch a movie."

"Okay!" his father shouted, slightly muffled from being in the laboratory.

His mother, however, was in the kitchen and appeared in the doorway. "I know it's silly to worry-"

Danny shook his head. "I promise we'll be safe and keep to populated areas. No one will be chopping off our heads." He hadn't seen anything in the newspaper or on the news about the person who was cutting off the heads of criminals recently. Maybe that person had moved on to another town? "I'll be back by curfew."

His mother sighed, but worry still creased upon her brow. "All right. Have fun with your friends." She returned to cooking dinner.

Danny gave Cujo a pat on the head then turned to leave the house. Once he was outside, he walked off down the street, heading for his first stop on the list of places they thought the robbers would target. He thought about the corkboard in his room and everything he had pinned to it as he walked. His brain churned for any clue he might have missed among his thrown together collection. Part of him wondered if he could find out anything if he tried asking Police Chief Gray about his progress investigating Jazz's murder. Did Spike go to the police after Danny confronted him? He couldn't even be sure.

Danny checked out one of the facilities owned by Sam's family, but all was quiet there. According to Spike, these people tended to work in pairs. If they operated the same way as the night Jazz was killed, then Danny could expect to find someone playing lookout. But each place he checked out lacked anyone suspicious hanging around outside.

When he reached the next place, Danny hesitated as he stared at the building. He swallowed, and his throat felt dry and tight. Dalv Pharmaceuticals, owned by Vlad Masters and the location of his sister's death. He had avoided the place on previous patrols because it was just too hard to be there, to wander around behind the building and see the spot where his sister was shot and died in his arms. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. He couldn't keep avoiding it.

But would those people hit the same facility?

Danny slipped into the shadows of the alley, ignored by the few people walking down the street. He could almost imagine it was the same night, except no thunder rumbled overhead, no lightning flashed in the sky, and no rain threatened to fall. Turning around the corner of the building, he found the scene had been cleaned of any sign of his sister's death. That made it easier in a way. If he could only pretend it was a completely different alley. But his gaze was drawn to the spot where he found his sister and rushed over to her as she lay dying. His fingernails bit into his palms. This wasn't where his sister should have died. She deserved something better than to die in some dirty back alley.

At the creak of a door opening, Danny stiffened, casting his gaze around the alley. Then he noticed the back door of Dalv Pharmaceuticals was ajar, the hinges squeaking as it rocked slightly back and forth. Danny checked around and spotted a dumpster. Not the best place, but he hopped into it and changed into his costume then transformed. He hated to leave his bag there, but it would be out of sight in the dumpster.

Danny phased into Dalv Pharmaceuticals, quietly walking through the darkened rooms. He saw laboratories filled with equipment. Cabinets were filled with vials of chemicals and samples. The setup was sort of impressive, but Danny would be happier walking through NASA or anywhere else that worked in developing technology for space exploration.

After a few empty rooms, he stepped back into the main hall and walked down it, searching for evidence of the person who broke into the building. Toward the end of the hall, Danny found a door with a broken window. He shook his head. Clearly the person wasn't very good at picking locks. He stepped through the door and searched the room. It looked like many of the other laboratories, but for some reason, it set him on edge. His skin felt tingly.

"Found it!"

Danny snapped his head around at the triumphant shout. A man stood from where he had crouched behind one of the lab stations in the center of the room. He dressed like a terrible ninja in all black and a ski mask with holes cut out for his eyes and mouth. But Danny's attention focused more on what the man held in his hand. It was a container the size of a small jar filled with a bright green substance. In his ghost form, Danny could see little blob ghosts clinging to the outside of the container, like they were drawn to the substance inside it.

"Ectoplasm," Danny whispered in shock. He knew it well from snooping around in his parents' laboratory.

The man twisted around, fumbling with the container, nearly dropping it and causing the little ghosts to scatter from fright. "The Specter!" the man hissed, sounding like a super villain addressing a hero who had foiled his attempts for world domination one time too many.

"Actually, it's Phantom," Danny corrected, though he doubted it would matter unless he somehow got Lance Thunder to stop calling him Specter in his news reports. "I don't know what you're doing with that," he pointed at the container, "but I'm afraid I can't let you take it." He couldn't think of a reason for why a pharmaceuticals company would even have a container of ectoplasm.

"You can try to stop me, but I'm walking out of here with this."

When the man threw something at him, Danny ducked on instinct before remembering he could have just turned intangible. He glanced behind him to see a small dagger embedded into the wall. A chill washed through him, and Danny shifted to intangible. The man stumbled through him, failing to connect his punch.

"So it's true!" The man spun around, his eyes wide behind the ski mask.

Danny swept his foot out, knocking the man on his back. He climbed on top of the man and pinned him down. "Who are you working for?"

The burglar laughed, twisting under Danny in an attempt to find a way to break free. "You won't get any information out of me." He smirked cruelly. "Though if I were you, I wouldn't go around flaunting your abilities."

With a frown, Danny glanced around the laboratory. Where was his partner? He didn't see anyone else, unless they split up to search the building. He turned a glare onto the man. "What do you want with the ectoplasm?"

"Still not giving up any info."

Coldness wrapped around Danny. He leapt away seconds before the man fired off a shot. The bullet passed too close to his face for his liking. He cursed himself as the man got to his feet. He should have checked for weapons when he had the man pinned to the floor. Now the man stood before him with a gun pointed to his chest. Danny ground his teeth in frustration. He needed more than only the ability to turn intangible. He needed a means of attack.

But what bothered Danny most about the situation was the cold dread still hanging over him. Something was going to happen. He could feel it in his bones, and his heart raced, adrenaline pumping through him. But he didn't think it had anything to do with the man standing before him.

Then the lights flared on, so brightly it blinded him. The fluorescent tubes shattered. Danny jumped back while the man tripped over his own feet. Laughter echoed off the walls. Panic squeezed at Danny's chest. Not from the laughter, but from the electricity arcing through the laboratory. It gathered from every light and electrical socket and from the machines, all drawing to a single point in the center of the room. It took the shape of something vaguely human, though Danny saw no legs. The form glowed brightly, and jets of electricity shot from it. One bolt of electricity shot right at him. Danny stood paralyzed as it glanced the side of his head, burning and stinging. He paled behind his mask when everything settled into quietness.

"Oh no," Danny whispered, too shocked to move.


	31. Chapter 31

Danny's body reacted on its own, diving behind a lab station as another bolt of electricity shot in his direction. Part of his mind, which wasn't paralyzed with fear, screamed at him to run away. It would be safer. He wouldn't have to face some crazy with electric powers. Because, _of course_ , it had to be electric powers.

For a brief moment, he was back in his parents' machine being shocked by millions of bolts of electricity. His breath quickened as his heart stuttered. He remembered all too well the pain and the fear that he was about to die.

"Finally!"

Danny shivered at the voice, because it couldn't be. It just couldn't. But hearing the voice broke Danny from his panic After taking a deep breath, he dared to peek over the top of the lab station. The burglar lay in a crumpled heap in a corner of the room. He wasn't moving, and the container of ectoplasm lay several feet away from him. Luckily, the container seemed to be intact. Then Danny dragged his gaze to being in the center of the room, hovering over the lab station there. His stomach dropped as he took in the sight. Despite the wild white hair and sickly green skin, Danny easily recognized the man, thought perhaps man wasn't the right term to use. For one, the "man" had no legs. Under his white coat, the man had a - Danny could only think of it as a tail. The "tail" twitched back and forth.

"It's taken me too long to break free, but now I'm going to make him regret everything," announced the man, or whatever he was.

Fleeing sounded like an incredible idea right now. _No, you have to do something to stop this electric dude_ , he told himself. What would Jazz tell him in this kind of situation? That he should face his fears? If he was going to overcome the panic he felt at the slightest hint of electricity or lightning, then facing someone who could shoot out bolts of electricity seemed like a good way to do it. Danny swallowed thickly as he forced himself to stand.

"Care to share with the class what you mean?" he questioned, sounding a lot more confident than he felt.

The electric man twisted his head around, and Danny grimaced internally. One side of his sickly green face was a mangled mass of wrinkled flesh. It made sense, after what happened, but it wasn't a pretty sight to see. The man's mouth pressed thin, his eyes hidden behind dark shades. Electricity sparked between his fingers, making Danny's breath hitch with panic. No, he could do this. He wasn't going to let a little fear force him to back down like a coward. He wasn't wimpy Danny Fenton right now. He was Phantom who stopped criminals and protected the town. Mr. Sparky over there definitely seemed like someone from which Danny needed to protect Amity Park.

When the man fired a bolt at him, Danny dodged, rolling off to the side to avoid being electrocuted. Again. The side of his head still stung from the last blast he failed to avoid. He didn't count on the boomerang effect, though. A force slammed into his back, knocking him face first into the floor. When he glanced back, he spotted a clunk of metal and circuitry and wiring lying next to him on the floor. He had no idea what it was except it probably came from one of the machines in the room.

Mr. Sparky laughed, the villainous sound unsettling Danny. He never would have thought the man capable of such a sound. It made his stomach churn with sickness. Hadn't Tucker always spoke so highly of him?

"Oh, the fool!" Mr. Sparky chuckled lowly. "He can't even fathom what he's done." His cruel smirk landed on Danny. "And I'm afraid I can't let a nuisance get in my way."

Danny frowned. Great. He was a nuisance, and he kept getting told he was just in the way. Climbing to his feet, he glared through his mask at Mr. Sparky. "Well, you see, one of my special powers is to be in people's way." He shrugged. "I can't really do anything about it. It just happens."

"That's unfortunate for you."

"Really? Because I thought maybe we could talk things out. You know. Sit down. Have a nice cup of coffee. Talk about why you're ripping apart machines and attacking me with them."

"You think I'm one of those stupid cartoon villains that just announces their plans to the hero?"

"Well," Danny scratched at his cheek, because he had kind of hoped Mr. Sparky would do that, "no. I was thinking more along the lines of you don't have to do this. So far, you technically haven't done anything super serious. I doubt you'd get more than a slap on the wrist and a warning. So, you know, let's just stop now before things go too far and you wind up in jail."

Mr. Sparky laughed again, and Danny didn't feel all that reassured by it. "Do you honestly think a prison could hold me?"

Danny jumped back as electricity zapped the spot where he had stood. He had to admit the man had him convinced that a jail cell wouldn't hold him.

" _Me?_ " demanded Mr. Sparky in a louder voice. "I am now the master of electricity. All machinery shall be my weapon. Oh!" He chuckled to himself like he just thought of an amazing idea. "Oh, that's too good. He wanted a robot. I'll give him a killer robot."

"Wait!" Danny shouted when Mr. Sparky turned to leave the laboratory. He barely took a step before a ball of electricity slammed into his chest. He crashed back into the glass door of one cabinet with a scream of pain. When he hit the ground, his body twitched, small tendrils of electricity dancing over his body. Mr. Sparky burst the door off its hinges and glided out of the laboratory as Danny's vision fuzzed around the edges. He fought to stay conscious, to get his body to move, but it was no use. His eyes closed, and he was dead to the world.

 

"I'm not saying I don't believe you," Tucker said with a severe frown on his face, "but I don't."

"Why would I - OW!" Danny flinched away, the side of his head stinging worse than ever. He shot a glare at Sam, who winced.

"Sorry. But good news is this will probably heal up by tomorrow." Sam tried, a little more gently, to take care of Danny's injury.

"As I was saying." Danny turned back to Tucker, who looked ready to explode in anger. "Why would I make up something like that? I have no reason to lie and even less reason to say Mr. Technus is some sort of electricity spewing monster."

"Danny does make a certain amount of sense," Sam said, but she frowned like she wished she could disagree with him. "He wouldn't be saying it was Mr. Technus unless he was absolutely certain about it."

"You have to be mistaken," Tucker said firmly. "How could it have been Mr. Technus? He's in a _coma_! And explain to me how exactly someone can shoot off electricity."

"Don't forget he can control technology. Or at least, he said he could." Danny frowned in thought, his brain still felt a bit fuzzy on all the details of the fight. "He did hit me with a big chunk from a machine. Not important." He shook his head, holding up one hand before his friends could say anything. "And why is it so weird?" He tilted his head with a baffled expression. "I can turn into a ghost and walk through walls. What's weird about someone being able to manipulate electricity and control machines?"

"Oh, so are you saying Mr. Technus locked himself in your parents' machine and electrocuted himself to get those powers?" Tucker's green eyes flashed with anger. "Because I'd like to point out again, that _he's in a coma_."

"Well, I'm so sorry I don't have all the answers," Danny shouted back, his own frustration getting the better of him. "I just got my butt kicked by someone who looked _exactly_ like your robotics teacher." He reigned back some of his anger. "Uh, well, except for the green skin. That was new. But other than that, they were identical."

"Maybe you should just get to what happened next," Sam suggested, encouraging a changing in topics before her two friends exploded their argument into a fight. "He knocked you unconscious. Then what?"

Danny sighed, all the fight leaving him. He was exhausted after what happened with Mr. Technus, and his body ached where the electricity had struck him. All he wanted was to sleep. "I don't think I was out for very long. When I woke up, that burglar was still there. I tied him up for the cops to find." He frowned as he glanced at Sam. "Actually, you might like this. I ripped off his mask to see who it was, and it was that fake Hungarian Gregor."

"Ha!" Sam grinned. "I knew he was a slime ball."

"I was tempted to drag him back here to demand answers out of him." Danny sighed. Gregor definitely knew something. "But he seemed determined to keep his mouth shut. Maybe Valerie's dad will have better luck getting some answers out of him." He leaned forward, snagging his bag and dragging it toward him. After some rifling, he pulled out the container of ectoplasm. The container wasn't his to take, but he didn't like the idea of leaving it behind. "This is why he broke in there tonight. Why he was looking for ectoplasm, I don't know. Why Dalv Pharmaceuticals even _had_ ectoplasm," Danny frowned, eying the bright green substance within the container, "I don't know."

"Well, your parents _do_ believe ectoplasm could have multiple uses," Sam reminded. "Maybe someone else thinks so too."

"Yeah, but my parents are trying to find ways to use it to better the world. I have no idea what Dalv Pharmaceuticals has planned. And I definitely don't think the people Gregor was stealing this for had any good intentions with it." Were they looking for the ectoplasm the night Jazz was shot? It seemed too highly coincidental that someone would break into Dalv Pharmaceuticals so soon after what happened that night. Gregor _had_ to know something, and Danny could only hope Valere's father was able to make him talk.

"Just for the record, I totally don't believe you," Tucker said. "But let's say on the off chance that you're right. Why exactly would Mr. Technus be attacking some stupid pharmacy place? That doesn't exactly sound like a hotbed of electronics. Wouldn't he have been better off going to, I don't know, Radio Planet?"

"Well, I offered to sit down and have a nice chat with him, but he thought blasting me with electricity was a better use of his time." Danny glared at his friend. He understood why Tucker was refusing to believe him, but it was incredibly frustrating at the same time. "I don't think he really had any control over where he-" Danny struggled with the right word, waving his hands before him, "materialized. All I got out of him was that he's angry at some guy and something about a killer robot."

"Well, that's not the least bit terrifying." Tucker sighed as he dropped to the floor, sitting down beside Danny. "Mr. Technus is a genius when it comes to robotics technology. If he plans on building a killer robot, well, I'd want to run for the hills and never look back."

"Then you see why it's important to find a way to stop him?" Danny stared with concern at his friend. "I know he was your teacher and you admired his knowledge of robotics, but he could be really dangerous like this."

"Well," Tucker slapped a hand down on his friend's knee, "I guess I have another project to work on."

"No." Danny shook his head. "This is my problem. I can't drag you into it, and I can't keep pulling you away from working on your robot for the club."

"Danny, this is everyone's problem if there's a maniac, sorry, Tucker, on the loose," Sam said.

Tucker scowled at Sam. "And anyway, we're your friends." He gave Danny a punch on the shoulder. "We're a part of this whether you like it or not."

"Besides, you wouldn't last two seconds without our help." Sam smirked, gaining a roll of the eyes from Danny.

"Yeah, well, I won't be allowed out of the house if I don't make it home for curfew." Danny groaned as he stood. His chest still felt tight and hurt when he moved or breathed. He hoped the quicker healing kicked in soon. After returning the container of ectoplasm to his bag, he tossed the bag over one shoulder.

"This would all be a lot easier if we lived in our own place," Sam grumbled as she led the way out of the building.

Danny agreed. He wouldn't have to worry about sneaking out or being back by curfew if he lived in his own apartment, but for now, they were all stuck living with their parents. They climbed into Sam's car, and Danny was, for once, glad to have the backseat so he could stretch out on it and nap for the duration of the drive to his house. The fight had exhausted him.

He woke when Sam purposely jerked the car to a stop. Danny slid from sleeping laid out on the backseat to rolling off it and smashing his face into the back of Tucker's seat on the way down.

"You could be a little more gentle," Danny grumbled, rubbing at his face as he sat up.

"I could," Sam agreed. "But you were sleeping like a rock."

"Yeah, we were calling your name for, like, five minutes," Tucker added.

Danny frowned then sighed as he grabbed his bag. "I guess being hit with a ball of electricity has that effect on a person." He pushed open the door of the car. "I'll see you later."

After saying their goodbyes, Danny jogged up to the front door and entered his house. He barely made it to the stairs before he heard a cough. With a wince, he turned around to see his parents standing in the doorway to the front room.

"Do you-"

"But I'm home before curfew!" Danny checked his watch just to make sure. He still had three minutes to spare. He glanced toward his mother. "You said it was okay as long as I'm hanging out with Sam and Tucker. And besides, there hasn't been another report about-"

"What happened to your face?" His mother took hold of his head, tilting it sideways and down slightly as she frowned at the bandage on the side of his head.

"It's nothing." Danny pulled free of his mother's hold. "Just a little accident at the theater. I'm fine. Really. You don't have to worry."

His mother frowned, pursing her mouth. "What sort of accident?"

"Mom, really. You don't need to do the whole interrogation thing." Danny smirked at her. "If I've learned anything from you and Aunt Alicia, it's how to handle myself in a fight."

"That is true." His mother still seemed doubtful with concern.

"Don't worry about it, Maddie!" His father grinned as he threw an arm over his wife's shoulders. "Fentons are known for our hard heads. I bet that little knock on the noggin didn't even hurt."

Danny managed a laugh. "Not at all." Reality was his head still stung quite a bit from the fight. "Well," he yawned widely, covering his mouth with one hand, "I'm beat. I think I'm gonna head up to bed." After saying goodnight to his parents, Danny jogged up the stairs and headed to his room. He closed the door behind him then released a long breath of relief. Walking over to his bed, he collapsed onto it and let his bag thump onto the floor. He had enough to worry about trying to track down his sister's killer and Ember's whereabouts. Now he had to deal with a crazy robotics teacher with freaky powers over electricity and technology. Danny sighed into his pillow, wondering why nothing in his life could be easy.


	32. Chapter 32

Danny yawned widely as he sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal and his math book opened next to him with his notebook. He was having a difficult time focusing on getting any of his homework done. His plan was to do half his homework today then the other half tomorrow, filling up his morning so the rest of his day was free. He hadn't planned on not getting much sleep though. He thought his exhaustion would be enough to allow him to sleep without dreams, but it seemed like only seconds after he closed his eyes, he would wake up with his heart racing and sweat soaking through his clothes. Why would he think he would ever have a good night's sleep anymore? He already had nightmares about being nearly electrocuted to death in his parents' machine and his sister being shot. Now he had a crazy technopath on the loose who just happened to be his best friend's favorite teacher.

"You're up early," his father said in surprise when he strolled into the kitchen.

Danny sighed as he put down his pencil. He was happy for any excuse to avoid math homework for a little while. "Well, I wanted to take Cujo out for a walk in the park later," he explained, glancing over to where the puppy was happily gobbling up his own breakfast as his tail wagged. "So I thought I would work on school stuff while I had breakfast. Then maybe tonight, I'll hanging out with Tuck and Sam again."

"I hope you won't get into anymore accidents." His father poked the side of Danny's head, near where it was still bandaged.

Danny made a show of wincing, though the injury had healed by the time he woke up. His ribs still ached somewhat, but at least he could breathe without it hurting again. "I think I can manage that." He smiled to his father as the large man walked over to the refrigerator to look for his breakfast. When he turned back to his homework, Danny frowned. He would have to fight Mr. Technus again. He wished he didn't have to, but Mr. Technus sounded like he was out for blood. If he knew who Mr. Technus was after, he would have an easier time tracking the technopath maniac.

His father sat down after he finished making his breakfast. His plate was heaped with scrambled eggs and two slices of toast. Danny tapped his pencil against his notebook as he watched his father eat. A thought wiggled its way into his brain.

"Dad," Danny said with only a slight hint of hesitation. Once he had his father's attention, he continued, "With all your inventions, have you made anything to capture a ghost?"

"Danny, you know your mom and I aren't suppose to talk about our work."

"I know." Danny sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Honestly, he didn't know _what_ Mr. Technus was now. Like Tucker had said, Mr. Technus was supposed to be in a coma, not dead. But his appearance last night, the teacher had the same kind of sickly green skin Danny had in his ghost form. Maybe not identical, as Mr. Technus' skin was a brighter green, like a somewhat darker neon, while Danny's skin was a pale shade of green. But maybe, even if Technus wasn't a ghost, they could figure out something with a similar idea to catching a ghost. But Technus could control technology, so they would need some way to nullify his ability. Danny could feel a headache building.

"We did have an idea," his father admitted, rubbing his chin in thought. "But without any ghosts to test it on, we can't know for sure if it actually works." He sighed, staring sadly at his eggs.

Danny was tempted to blurt out his theory about ghosts existing on a different spectrum from what normal people can see. He wanted to help his parents with their research, and giving them that bit of information would be a big help to them. But then he would have to explain how he came up with that theory, which he wasn't sure he could do without revealing things he would rather not tell his parents yet.

"I'm sure you'll find a ghost one of these days," he assured his father with a bright grin.

"Yeah." His father lifted his head and grinned back. "Yeah! We're totally going to find a ghost! If this Specter they keep mentioning on the news is in fact a ghost, I'd love the chance to meet him."

Danny almost choked on the cereal he was eating, the color draining slightly from his face. "Meet," his voice cracked, "him? Like," he swallowed, a hollow feeling building in his chest, "meet meet or meet and capture to dissect and stuff?"

His father blinked then released a loud bark of a laugh. "Dissect? Is that what you think Maddie and I plan to do?"

"Well," Danny flushed with embarrassment, "what _are_ your plans then?" He didn't think it was too far a jump to assume his parents were planning to tear apart ghosts to find out more about them when their laboratory was filled with weapons to combat ghosts.

"We want to study them, of course." His father poked at his eggs as his smile twisted into a frown. "But we also realize that not all ghosts are going to be friendly like that - What is it? Casper? Some will probably be violent, so we like to be prepared in case we come up against ghosts like that. But this Specter character, he seems to be one of the good ones. How can you call him evil when he's been stopping burglaries and stuff?"

"So if you met him," Danny bit his tongue to keep from correcting his father about the name, "you would just talk with him?"

"Well, yeah! Imagine the things we could learn from a ghost just by asking it? And if he would give us a sample of his ectoplasm, well, that would just be icing on the cake!"

Danny had to smile when he saw the joy on his father face when he thought about being able to speak with a ghost. He was almost tempted to appear before his father as Phantom because he knew it would mean the world to his father. After shoveling the rest of his cereal into his mouth, he stood and carried his bowl over to the sink.

"Well, I'm off to do some more of my dreaded homework." Danny groaned, making a face. He gathered up his math book and notebook. With a whistle for Cujo to follow him, he headed upstairs to his room. He passed his mother on the way down the hall. When they entered his room, Cujo hopped onto his bed, snuffling through the blankets until he found his little plush toy. Danny chuckled at the sight of Cujo curled up on his bed with the toy like a child hugging his favorite stuffed toy while he slept. With a shake of his head, he sat down at his desk and worked on his math assignment.

Danny busied himself with his homework until it was one in the afternoon. Then he hit the shower and got dressed, throwing on some clean jeans and a random shirt he yanked out of his dresser. After grabbing his bag, he patted his hip as he walked out the door of his room. Cujo dropped his toy and leaped off the bed. He flew past Danny down the hall and stairs. When he reached the front door, he sat and barked, his tail wagging so much his whole body shook with it. Danny chuckled as he knelt to attach the leash to Cujo's collar.

"I'm taking Cujo to the park for a walk," Danny shouted to his parents.

"All right," his mother called back. "Take care!"

Danny smiled a little as he left the house with Cujo. He was glad his mother hadn't ordered him to be home before dark. He understood why his mother was acting so overprotective. Why wouldn't she after Jazz was shot? But they couldn't live in fear of the world and worry about all the bad that could happen. What kind of life would that be? Hiding in the safety of their house and never going outside because something tragic might happen wasn't the kind of life for him. Danny sighed, and now he had too many problems to solve. While he wanted to find Jazz's killer, stopping Mr. Technus took priority.

Danny walked around the park with Cujo, who was happy to run around and greet people or sniff at everything. He passed some other people walking dogs and had to stop when Cujo wanted to meet the other dogs. While they wandered around the park, he told himself not to be too hopeful. The hooded man might be busy on the weekend and unable to stop by to see Cujo. _Or_ , a voice in his head suggested, _he was just trying to be nice and wasn't planning on meeting at all_. Danny frowned at that thought then shook it off. He wasn't coming the park just to see the hooded man. He was here to take Cujo on a walk.

Danny sighed after an hour, or maybe three, had passed with no sign of the hooded man showing up to pay a visit to Cujo. He turned to lead Cujo back to the exit of the park in the direction of his house, but he stopped when he found Dash a few feet in front him with a yappy little Chihuahua prancing around at the jock's feet. A snort nearly left him at the sight of big, muscular Dash Baxter with a tiny, scrawny dog, but he choked it back. He doubted Dash would appreciate the snort of amusement.

"Not a word, Fenturd," Dash said, dark blue eyes narrowing in a look Danny knew all too well from all the times Dash threatened to pound him into the pavement.

"Not a word about what?" Danny feigned innocence like he had zero idea what Dash meant with his threat.

"Pooky is my mom's dog." Despite his glare, Dash's cheeks slowly reddened. "I just walk her for my mom because she's busy."

"Hey, I wasn't even going to say anything." Danny held up his hands. "And Pooky's a cute dog. No reason to be embarrassed about her." He crouched down with his hand out. Pooky trotted over and gave his hand a sniff before greeting Cujo.

"Hey!" Kwan jogged over to where they were. "That was Star just now. Apparently her parents are going to be out all night so she's going to be holding a party. She mentioned something about getting this awesome new album to play. I don't know. She seemed really excited about it." Kwan shrugged. Then with a grin, he gave Dash a nudge in the rib with his elbow. "Oh, hey, Danny. And who is this adorable guy?" He joined Danny in crouching and scratched at Cujo's head.

"Cujo," Danny answered, shifting slightly in awkwardness.

"Hopefully, he's nothing like the one from that movie." Kwan chuckled and glanced over to Dash. "Remember that one?"

Dash shuddered but tried to hide it. "Don't remind me."

"Say," Kwan turned back to Danny and slapped him on the shoulder, "why don't you come tonight?"

"Kwan!" Dash growled, giving his friend a look that told him to stop.

"What? Oh, come on!" Kwan scoffed, frowning at his fellow jock. "Everyone is going to be there anyway. What's it really going to harm if Danny and his friend come too?"

"Losers don't belong at parties for the A List."

"Weren't you just saying-"

"Kwan!" Dash snapped, and Kwan sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Ah, that's okay." Danny stood. "I have things to do tonight anyway." His phone rang at that moment. He gave the jocks a wincing smile. "Uh, I should get that."

"Is that your boyfriend?" Dash made kissing noises until Kwan stood and punched him on the shoulder to make him stop.

"I have enough going on in my life without having to worry about dating someone," Danny mumbled as he pulled out his phone. "I guess I'll see you at school." He waved goodbye to the jocks as he walked away with Cujo bounding alongside him. After accepting the call, he raised the phone to his ear, "Hello."

"Danny!" Elle responded. "I know we planned on meeting Monday for tutoring. But is there any way you could come over to give me some quick help with one of my assignments? It doesn't have to be today. I mean, if you're already busy or something, we could do it tomorrow. Well, I guess, that's assuming you don't have plans for tomorrow too."

Danny laughed at her ramblings. "Today's fine. I was just about to head home." He dropped his gaze to Cujo and grinned. "Though if you want, I could bring Cujo along with me. But only if you're not going to let him distract you from your work."

"Cujo!" Elle shouted in excitement. "Oh! Bring him! Please!"

"Okay. Okay. I'll drag him along." Danny chuckled at her reaction. "I'm on my way now." After he hung up his phone, he stuffed it into his pocket and glanced down at Cujo. "You ready to go visit Elle?' Cujo barked, and Danny guessed it meant the puppy was happy about seeing Elle again. They left the park, and Danny headed off to Elle's house.

It wasn't until he reached Elle's house that Danny wondered how Carmina would react to a puppy in the house. The woman already hated Danny. He could only imagine how much more she would dislike him for having Cujo with him. So far, since Cujo had lived with them, the puppy was fairly well behaved. He only chewed on the toy the hooded man got him, and he drooled, mostly on Danny's bed when he slept there. He was housetrained, so he didn't worry about Cujo accidentally going inside the house. Carmina didn't need to worry about Cujo wrecking the house, but Danny knew she would give him the stink eye the moment she saw him.

With that thought in mind, Danny rang the doorbell and waited for the usual scowl Carmina would wear when she opened the front door to see him. Five minutes passed, and Danny frowned. It didn't usually take someone this long to answer the door when someone rang the bell. The growing cold tingling on the back of his neck didn't encourage any good feelings either. Then Danny jumped at the sound of a crash, glass shattering and someone screaming. Cujo barked, jumping up to place his paws on the door.

Danny grabbed the handle, phasing it enough so he could push the door open. He raced down the hall to where he heard the noise and skidded to a halt as he reached the kitchen. Elle slammed into him as she came barreling out of the kitchen, and the two of them crashed to the floor. Danny only caught a brief view of the kitchen before hitting the floor with Elle sprawled out on top of him. What he saw sent a chill through him. Something had smashed through the back wall of the kitchen, leaving a giant hole in its wake. Mr. Masters was on the white tiled flooring with a robot holding him pinned to the ground.


	33. Chapter 33

"Dan - Danny!" Elle gasped when she got enough of her bearings to look at whom she tackled to the ground. "How did-"

"Elle!" Danny stopped her, wincing after his head had slammed into the floor. "You should hide. And probably call the police or something."

"R-Right," Elle responded shakily as she climbed off Danny. Her body trembled, but Danny wasn't surprised. He would probably be shaken up too if a robot suddenly burst into his house and attacked his father.

Danny stood then helped Elle to her feet as he passed her Cujo's leash. "Take Cujo with you." He didn't want the puppy getting hurt, and he knew Elle would make sure Cujo stayed safe. He pushed Elle down the hall before she could stutter out a protest. Thankfully, she seemed to understand the urgency because she didn't need any further encouragement to run away.

Once he heard her running up the stairs, Danny sought out a room to hide in, and the first door he opened led into a closet used to store some cleaning supplies. He quickly changed into his costume and stuffed his bag into a corner of the closet. Then he transformed and shifted to intangible before he jogged through the wall of the closet and into the kitchen. Mr. Masters was putting up a decent fight, at least managing to keep the robot from getting its hands around his throat and strangling him to death. Danny might have relaxed if not for the buzzing circular saw that sprung out of the robot's back a second after his arrival. Mr. Master's hands were already occupied, making it impossible for him to protect himself from the saw inching ever closer toward his throat.

"Hey, bucket head!" Danny shouted as he rushed towards them. "Heads up!" He slammed his foot into the head of the robot, effectively knocking the circular saw off course so it pierced the tile flooring rather than Mr. Master's throat. But his heart leaped into his throat for a moment in a panic thinking he might have made a grave mistake with that action. He needed to get Mr. Masters out of danger, not put him into more danger.

The robot's head snapped back around, red eyes flaring upon the green T screen acting as its face. Unlike Tucker, Danny didn't know a lot about robotics, but he was fairly certain the robot was angry. He grabbed hold of Mr. Masters, hooking his hands under the man's arms. Then he yanked Mr. Masters free. While he was eager to learn new abilities to aid him in a fight, preferably something offensive, he was beyond thankful for his intangibility and its ability to extend beyond just himself.

"You're real," Mr. Masters said in utter disbelief as Danny helped him to his feet. "The rumors were-"

"Watch out!" Danny shoved the man aside. The robot slammed into him, and for the second time that day, he cracked his head on the floor. He groaned, the world blurring before his eyes. Only an icy sensation creeping over his skin enabled him to avoid being pierced through his stomach as the robot stabbed at him, the fingers of its hand making a sharp point. Danny turned intangible just in time to escape being made into a shish kabob. His heart pounded against his ribs. That was a little too close for his liking. He rolled out from under the robot as it struggled to free its hand from the floor.

Without stopping to think, Danny caught Mr. Masters' arm and dragged him through a wall before the robot could recover. He needed to find a safe location where the robot couldn't get at him. What was a robot even doing here? Why would it be after Mr. Masters? Danny ground his feet a halt when they reached the front hall. The thought hit him so hard he nearly gasped like someone punched him in the gut. Mr. Technus mentioned something about a killer robot, saying "he" wanted one. Hesitantly, Danny turned to face Mr. Masters. Did Mr. Technus mean Mr. Masters? Danny guessed it made some logical sense. After all, Mr. Technus _did_ work for Mr. Masters. But why would Mr. Technus want to kill Mr. Masters? That part wasn't making any sense in his head.

"Why does some machine want to kill you?" Danny left out knowing Mr. Technus was behind this attack, not wanting to answer how he knew what he did.

Mr. Masters combed back his silver hair, his clothing disheveled from being pinned down by the robot. "I imagine there are a number of people who would want me dead." He said it so calmly it unnerved Danny. No one should be so indifferent about someone attempting to take their life. "Angry employees that were laid off or didn't get the promotion they felt they deserved. Competitors who want to eliminate me so their businesses stand a better chance at succeeding. There are dozens of reasons someone would want to take out someone as rich and successful as I."

Danny frowned, giving the man a dry look that he could see behind the mask. "As helpful as that was," he muttered. "How about someone who would build a robot bent on killing you?"

"I'll admit that's a first." Mr. Masters stroked the hair on his chin, mildly impressed by this new method to kill him.

A shriek came from upstairs, interrupting their conversation. Danny bolted toward the stairs, mentally kicking himself for not thinking about why the robot was taking so long to follow them. He made it three steps up the staircase when the robot appeared, holding Elle with a metal arm wrapped around her throat. He froze in place, his throat running dry and all thought fleeing from his mind. The robot pressed a pointed finger to Elle's temple, the tip digging into his skin as Elle whimpered with tears running down her face.

"You're business is with me," Vlad shouted, glaring at the robot holding his daughter hostage. "You want to hurt me?" He spread his arms out wide. "I'm right here."

Danny wasn't sure if the man had gone crazy or was actually being brave. _Who am I to talk though?_ he thought briefly. He was wearing a costume and trying to protect Elle and her father from his school's teacher turned crazy with the ability to manipulate technology and electricity. Danny licked his lips, his fingers curled and uncurling as he fought to think of what to do in this situation. One wrong move could end with Elle being seriously hurt, if not killed. He didn't want to risk that.

Then a mechanical clicking sound echoed through the front hall, chilling Danny to his core. A mouth formed on the green T screen on the head of the robot, a cruel grin stretching wide with jagged red teeth.

"Are you trying to say taking the life of your precious," the robot's finger tapped at Elle's temple, and she closed her eyes with another whimper, "daughter wouldn't hurt you?" His voice sounded strange, like it was a digitally created voice, yet Danny could still hear Mr. Technus' voice within it. Danny wanted to act. He was furious that Mr. Technus would threaten Elle's life. Whatever happened between the two men that led to this, it had nothing to do with Elle, and she didn't deserve to be terrified like this. Danny's reservations about hurting Mr. Technus because he was Tucker's favorite teacher flew out the window. He wouldn't forgive Mr. Technus if he hurt Elle.

"She is an innocent girl," Mr. Masters said, strolling a few steps closer to the staircase. "Would you really hurt a child?" He frowned, and Danny still couldn't believe the man's level of calmness in this situation.

"Yeah, isn't that one the laws?" Danny grasped at memories from Tucker's ramblings about robotics. "You can't allow a human to be harmed. Isn't that it?"

"Do not quote the laws of robotics to me!" the robot shouted as he tossed Elle aside. She screamed as she hit the floor, but it didn't look like she was hurt too badly. The robot charged at him, fury in its glowing red eyes.

Danny waited, feigning to be frozen where he stood. When the robot was in reach, Danny punched his hand forward, driving it into the metal head. His hand turned intangible as it neared the head, and he reached inside it, grabbing hold the largest piece of circuitry and wiring he could find to yank free from the robot. Tucker would know exactly what to do to disable a robot. Danny just had to hope he ripped out the right part to make the robot stop functioning.

For one brief moment, Danny held the part from the head in his hand, a sense of victory swelling in him when the robot stopped moving. Then the obnoxious cold sense of dread stabbed at the back of his head. In the next moment, he flew backward, slamming into the wall then dropping to the floor with a groan, his ribs bruised if not broken. He struggled to push himself up from the floor, a whine building in the back of his throat. He decided to bump the status to probably broken ribs. His head felt a little woozy.

Then he heard sirens. Danny's brow creased in confusion. That couldn't be right, but he definitely heard the blare of sirens screaming through the air.

"This isn't over," the robot warned, and Danny wasn't sure if that comment was directed toward him or Mr. Masters or both of them.

When he lifted his head, Danny saw no robot. He glanced around, but the robot had vanished. Mr. Masters climbed the stairs, rushing up them two at a time to reach his daughter as Elle sat up, holding her head. Danny climbed to his feet then leaned back against the wall. He smiled when he saw Mr. Masters looking over his daughter and taking out a clean handkerchief to press to the spot where the robot's finger had dug into her temple.

Then the doors of the house burst open, banging against the walls as four officers filed into the front hall with their guns at the ready.

"We received a report of an attack," one officer said as he stepped forward. Danny gulped nervously when he saw the man: Officer Walker. He would have preferred to see Police Chief Gray instead. As if he heard the thought, Officer Walker snapped his gaze toward Danny. "I see you're showing your true criminal colors now, Specter."

Danny wanted to groan, but he feared Officer Walker might actually shoot at him for that. "The name is Phantom," he corrected, standing up straight despite the pain in his chest. "And I was trying to protect these people," he gestured to Elle and her father, "from a killer robot."

"Killer robot." Officer Walker snorted. "Unlikely. You should learn not to tell tall tales to law enforcement."

"He's not lying!" Elle protested as she came down the stairs with her father.

"He did indeed save us from a robot that attacked us," Mr. Masters agreed. He came to stand before Officer Walker, his mouth pressing thin, his expression one that made Danny not want to be on his bad side. "And you can expect a huge media spectacle should you attempt an arrest of this-" He glanced at Danny. "Phantom, did you say it was?"

"Yes." Danny bobbed his head, grinning. Finally! Maybe now the news would stop calling him Specter.

Mr. Masters nodded. "I am more than happy to go with you to the precinct to give my report of what took place. But I ask that you leave Phantom alone. He has only protected us, and I will not have you trying to imprison the man who kept my daughter and I safe."

"Sir, we can't just allow this vigilante-"

"You will not touch him," Mr. Masters said evenly, making Danny glad the man was on his side.

"Well," Danny interrupted the tense moment, "my work here seems to be done. Everyone is safe and sound. So I'll just," he swallowed with all eyes upon him, "go. You know, plenty more innocent civilians to protect." He was glad for the mask because none of them could see the wince on his face as he walked away.

"You! Stop!" Officer Walker shouted, moving to follow Danny, who was heading back down the hall toward the closet where he left his bag. But Mr. Masters held the officer back, and even Elle moved to block his path so Danny had the chance to slip through the wall and continue toward the closet.

Whatever they said next, Danny couldn't hear anything more than muffled shouts. He hurriedly changed back into his regular clothes, biting his tongue to keep from making a sound as the pain flared in his ribs. Then he waited, listening closely for any noise from the front hall. He didn't want to come out while the police were still present, preferring to avoid them questioning him.

"Danny?" Elle called out, her voice coming closer to where he hid. "Danny, where are you?"

After taking a breath and preparing to mask his pain, Danny cracked open the closet door. "Is it safe to come out?" He put a little waver in his voice, attempting to sound scared.

Elle jogged over to him. Flecks of dried blood remained on her temple, but otherwise she looked okay. "Yeah," she answered, pulling the door all the way open. "Everyone's gone. It's safe."

"Sorry." Danny lowered his head, and at least some of his shame was real. He should have protected Elle, but she still got put in harm's way. "I thought I could do something to help, but then I took one look at what was happening and chickened out. I hid in the closet the whole time."

Elle threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest. Danny barely managed to hold back a scream as she hugged him tightly. "I was so scared! That robot just came out of nowhere and started attacking. I don't know what would have happened if that Phantom guy hadn't shown up when he did."

Danny wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back. "Hey, it's okay now though." He managed a smile, but he remembered Mr. Technus' last words before he left. This wasn't over, and until they figured out a way to neutralize Mr. Technus, Danny would have to protect Mr. Masters. "Do you want to get out of here for a while?" Elle was trembling badly within his arms. "We could go for a walk or something to calm our nerves."

Elle pulled away from him, wiping at her eyes. "Yeah, okay. That sounds good." She nodded jerkily. "I'll just go get Cujo." The corner of her mouth twitched in a watery smile. "It'll be nice to take him on a walk."

Danny watched as Elle walked down the hall toward the stairs. When she was out of sight, he leaned back against the wall, arms hugged around his ribs. Next time, he would have to be more careful about getting hit in the ribs. They had healed up most of the way from his previous encounter with Mr. Technus, but Danny thought it would take much longer for his ribs to heal this time. Hopefully, he could get by without Elle catching on to his injury.


	34. Chapter 34

"Wow," Tucker breathed out in amazement. "And none of them suspected anything?" His eyebrows lifted in disbelief.

Danny frowned, glaring at his friend. "Yes," he said flatly, "it's a complete miracle that they were unable to put it together that I am Phantom."

"I just mean - Well, come on!" Tucker laughed. "Oh, I was so scared of the robot so I hid in the closet." He gasped, pretending to be frightened.

"I still think that was a totally plausible excuse." Danny folded his arms with a huff, heat creeping into his cheeks from embarrassment. "The robot _did_ try to sever Mr. Masters' head from his body." He leaned forward, rubbing his hands over his face as his elbows balanced on his knees. "This is all such a headache! Why does Mr. Technus want to kill Mr. Masters anyway? They work together."

"Difference of opinion?" Sam suggested, but she exchanged a look with Tucker that made Danny feel rather suspicious.

"Okay." Danny sat back in the car. "What's going on?"

Tucker sighed, hanging his head with disappointment in his green eyes. "We went to the hospital yesterday to check in on Mr. Technus."

Danny glanced between his friends when Tucker didn't continue. "And?" he pressed for more information. "Was he still there? In the coma?"

Tucker shook his head with a frown. "The doctor said Mr. Technus was moved a couple of days after the explosion put him in the coma. Apparently, Mr. Masters came in and legal stuff or something. The basic point is, Mr. Masters had Mr. Technus moved to one his own medical facilities to be cared for by his doctors."

"Wait." Danny held up a hand, trying to process this new information. "Are we trying to say that Mr. Masters had something to do with the explosion that put Mr. Technus in a coma and did _something_ to him that made him all crazy and able to control electricity and technology?" He stared at his friends, barely able to understand his own question.

"It's a theory," Tucker answered with a shrug. "Mr. Masters _is_ rich, and he holds a lot of influence in basically everything. He could have come to Mr. Technus about something, but Mr. Technus refused whatever it was, so Mr. Masters decided to eliminate him, for whatever reason."

"Mr. Masters is not some evil mastermind villain," Danny argued, shooting a glare at his friend.

"And you think Mr. Technus is just some crazy evil super villain?" Tucker snapped back.

"Whoa! Hey!" Sam cut in, pushing Tucker back into the front passenger's seat of her car. "Let's all take a breath and calm down. We don't know _anything_ for certain yet. Okay. That's not entirely accurate. We know something happened to Mr. Technus to make him this way, and he has some vendetta against Mr. Masters. The how and the why are still unknown. So let's not get angry at each other over a few theories about what might be going on."

"Fine." Tucker huffed, turning around to face the front. Danny couldn't see his friend's face, but he knew Tucker was definitely sulking.

"Good." Sam relaxed. "What's the plan now?" She turned to Danny for an answer.

"Well, I can't watch Mr. Masters all the time." Danny frowned. After making sure he had all his homework finished, he spent the remainder of his weekend trying to keep an eye on Mr. Masters without giving himself away, which was made difficult when the man went to Axion Labs. If he was going to tail someone, he was going to need some mode of transportation to keep up with them. Once Mr. Masters was inside Axion Labs, Danny was unable to follow, which was another reason invisibility sounded like a nice ability to have. "Aside from him going places I can't follow, I can't just skip school to spy on him the whole time."

"We can help," Sam offered.

"No!" Danny shook his head. "I don't want either of you being put in harm's way. And you two definitely can't be seen with me when I'm Phantom. I don't want you being harassed because people think you know something about Phantom. Or worse, being tortured to get the information."

Sam rolled her eyes. "How sweet of you. But what I actually meant was that Tucker and I can help to keep a watch on Mr. Masters. We can contact you by phone so you don't have to worry about anyone seeing us together."

"Yeah, but I don't want to pull you away from stuff." Danny frowned at his friends. "Tucker still has robotics club. And I'm sure your mom has stuff to bore you with."

"My mom has been throwing a fit ever since it came out that Gregor was a rotten thief." Sam smirked. "Apparently his plan was to get close to the daughters of families that own big businesses then get any information out of them that he could for when he broke into their companies to steal stuff."

"But you, of course, were too smart to fall for his sleazy ways." Tucker grinned until Sam smacked him on the arm. "And well, it's not like we're going to make it to the contest now anyway." He shrugged like it didn't bother him, but Danny knew it did. "We might as well take our time and work toward the contest next year instead of rushing and making lots of mistakes trying to make it to this year's contest."

"That's smart." Sam nodded. "It wouldn't look good if you made it to the contest and the robot exploded because you made a miscalculation in your plans."

"It wouldn't explode," Tucker protested.

Sam waved off the comment as she turned to Danny. "Valerie isn't going to be happy with you."

"What did I do now?" Danny gawked at his friend. He couldn't recall doing anything recently to anger Valerie. But she seemed to have a short temper, so he could have simply breathed the wrong way and made her angry.

"I didn't mean you. I meant Phantom. Thanks to that whole thing that happened at Mr. Masters' house, that obnoxious Walker has been slamming Valerie's dad as if he isn't doing his job." Sam frowned. "What did he say? That if Police Chief Gray allows one vigilante to run wild in our town, he's opening the gateway for others, which will, as he says, lead to chaos. He wants to enforce a rule that anyone running around in a costume be arrested on the spot."

"Good thing Halloween is already over," Tucker said. "But I can't believe this guy. If he ever manages to take over as Police Chief, it's going to be unbearable living here."

"And that's all the more reason I can't be seen with you in public when I'm Phantom. If Walker sees you with me, he won't stop until he makes you talk." Danny imagined Officer Walker taking his friends away in handcuffs and locking them up in cells, interrogating them until he finally got answers about whom Phantom was. It scared him.

"So we'll be careful about our involvement in helping you," Tucker said, shrugging. "It shouldn't be too hard to blend in, especially if there's a crowd watching when you fight."

Danny shook his head. He should have known his friends wouldn't back down when it came to helping him. "Okay. Just please be careful." He couldn't take it if something happened to his friends because of him. "And I guess it's time to brave another long day of school." He grabbed his bag from the floor. The day would feel even longer while he anxiously awaited the final bell. What if Mr. Technus attacked while he was in school? He squashed that thought into the back of his mind. If he focused on it too much, he would go mad while sitting in class. He needed to keep his focus on school and keep his grades up. Pushing open the back door, he climbed out of the car with his friends.

"On the bright side," Tucker said, quietly, as they walked toward the school entrance, "at least the name Phantom is out there now."

"Yeah, but Lancer Thunder still keeps using Specter, even when corrected," Sam reminded.

"Well, Lancer Thunder isn't the brightest bulb in the box." Danny shrugged, though part of him had a suspicion the reporter was purposely getting the name wrong because he disapproved of Phantom's activities. Once they stepped into the school building, they ceased all discussion of Phantom and walked down the hall toward their lockers.

The A List crowd caught his eye, as usual, when they passed them. Star and Paulina chatted with each other, but what struck Danny as odd was the matching one sleeve black tops they wore. Star commonly wore white and light colors while Paulina almost always wore pink. Danny stared at them with a puzzled expression for a brief second then jerked his gaze away to avoid being noticed by Dash. He recalled when Dash arrived at the funeral and his comment about Jazz deserving someone better than him. A strong urge overcame him to turn around and talk to Dash about the comment, but he didn't feel like getting punched in the face. His ribs were just about healed after being tossed like a ragdoll by the robot at Mr. Masters' house. Danny wanted to get through the school day without adding another injury to the list.

With a shake of his head, he turned his attention back to the front. Then he jumped back in surprise when he found someone standing directly in front of him. If he hadn't turned to face forward again, he would have run right into the woman. He frowned, a wary feeling settling inside him as he stared at the woman dressed in an obnoxiously bright red dress suit. When he glanced toward his friends, he found Sam shoving Tucker toward the lockers, perhaps because she didn't want any of the woman's attention on her. Danny didn't blame her, but he hated that the counselor was trying to corner him and he didn't have his friends to give him an excuse to escape.

"Daniel Fenton," Ms. Spectra said with a smile that was irritatingly fake. "You haven't stopped by my office yet."

"Well, I haven't really-"

"So I wanted to check up on you," Mr. Spectra continued like Danny hadn't even attempted to speak. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and a chill tingled at the back of Danny's neck. He frowned, confused by that reaction. Usually, he only felt the cold sense when something dangerous or potentially harmful was about to happen. The counselor posed no threat to him. "Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable discussing things in my office."

"Uh, that sounds nice and all," Danny said awkwardly, shrugging her hand away. "But I have to get my things ready for class and, uh, stuff." He winced at the lame excuse, but he didn't want to talk to her about what happened with Jazz. He was fine. If fine didn't include nightmares and running around in a mask and costume to hunt down clues to find his sister's killer. "I should really get going. I don't want to my grades to drop because I forgot to finish some homework." 

"It's not good to bury your feelings," Ms. Spectra called after him as Danny walked over to his friends. "You should deal with your problems instead of using school as a distraction and letting them fester."

"Does she ever give up?" Danny muttered when he reached his lockers. "And thanks for the help back there."

"Yeah, like I'm going to let her get her claws into me," Sam said with a snort. "I hear enough at home about how I'm not girly enough and how I need to be 'fixed' because I don't have some guy setup already for marriage. Thanks, Mom, but I have my own goals in life and they don't include marrying for the sake of marrying. Oh, and money." Sam rolled her eyes. "I was already born into money. I don't need to marry for it. So forgive me if I'm not looking forward to a complete stranger trying to sell me the same crap about how who I am is completely wrong."

"I don't think she's that bad," Tucker commented as he stuffed a book into his bag. When he looked over to see his friends practically gaping at him, he blinked in surprise. "What? _You_ ," he stared pointedly at Sam, "might have things figured out, but other people might welcome her help and advice."

"Oh, Tuck," Sam frowned as she laid a hand on his shoulder, "please tell me you haven't been seeing her."

"And what if I had? Would it be so wrong to talk to someone?"

"Hey, you know you can talk to us about anything." Danny wore a worried look as he stared at his friend.

"Hey," Tucker cracked a grin, "I didn't say I _did_ go to her. I was just posing a hypothetical question. Is it really that big a thing if I or someone else actually went to talk to Ms. Spectra about any problems they were having? She's a counselor. That's what's she there for. And why is there such a stigma about seeing a counselor or therapist or something? Sometimes there are things you need to talk about that you don't feel like you can tell friends or family. Or it's something that needs someone a bit more professional to give advice on."

"Wow." Sam blinked, her eyebrows lifting up in surprise. "I think that's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Hey!" Tucker protested.

"Well," Danny slapped a hand to his friend's back, "the important thing is that you're okay." He felt a huge weight of relief leave him. If Tucker did go to Ms. Spectra for advice, Danny would feel like a bad friend, as if it would be his fault Tucker needed to speak to a counselor.

Then the bell rang, and the three friends walked down the hall. They parted ways when they reached their different classes. Danny stepped into the classroom, ignoring the usual stink eye from Mr. Green. He slid into his seat then sighed as he leaned forward on his desk. Too many thoughts bounced around in his head. His sister's death. Ember's disappearance. What happened to Mr. Technus and Mr. Masters' potential involvement. He didn't need to add another problem to the list, but his mind kept turning over the chill he felt when talking with Ms. Spectra. Was it alerting him to something about her? Or was it about something else and he simply failed to notice while his attention focused on the counselor?

When the seat beside him creaked, Danny turned his head as Dash settled into his desk. The jock had earplugs stuffed into his ears and an iPod in his hand, listening to some song that had his head nodding and foot tapping. Best of all, Dash was completely ignoring him. Mr. Green called for attention as the late bell rang, and Danny turned back to the front of the class, flipping open his notebook to a clean page to take notes.


	35. Chapter 35

"I swear the A List is being weirder than usual," Sam grumbled over the phone.

"We're supposed to be focused on watching Mr. Masters," Danny reminded with a small sigh. He didn't feel like listening to another rant about the popular crowd at school, though he had to admit something odd seemed to be going on with them. Since Monday, more of the A List had come to school wearing black clothing, which wouldn't necessarily be an odd thing if they didn't look like they all suddenly decided to become Goths. Danny could see where that point would upset Sam, who was Goth since before they entered high school.

"Did you see Star though?" Tucker said, joining in on the A List talk. "What was with that weird eye makeup? And she had a streak of blue in her hair!"

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can only handle so many problems at once," he murmured, mostly to himself. Then he focused his gaze back onto the front door of Axion Labs. So far, he saw no one suspicious approach the building. 

After school on Monday, they staked out Axion Labs to watch for any signs that Mr. Technus planned to attack Mr. Masters again. When nothing happened and they were forced to give up for the night, Danny let Sam drive him around on a quick patrol before she dropped him off at home for curfew. Between keeping watch over Mr. Masters and still trying to hunt down clues, Danny saw his time for homework dwindling. He had to tutor Elle after school on Tuesday. They met at the Nasty Burger near her house because they were still having repairs made after Mr. Technus attacked them. Elle looked better, but she admitted to him she was having nightmares about a robot trying to kill her. Sam and Tucker agreed to keep watch for him and let him know the moment they saw anything. They didn't see anything.

Danny couldn't continue like this. Jazz always pestered him about being more serious about his schoolwork, so for his sister, he refused to let his grades suffer. But to stay caught up in school, he couldn't waste most of his free time lurking outside of Axion Labs on the chance of Mr. Technus attacking. It killed him to think that, though, because he couldn't ignore Mr. Masters was in danger.

"Why would the A List being weird have to be your problem?" Tucker asked baffled.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "We're just chatting to fill the time. Stakes out are kind of boring."

"Hey. What did you get for number twenty-two of our math assignment?" Tucker questioned distractedly.

"Wait. Are you sitting there doing your homework?' Danny demanded. "You're supposed to be keeping a lookout!"

"Well, I need to work on my homework at some point. And nothing's happening yet. I _can_ keep watch and do my homework at the same time. So, Sam-"

"I'm not giving you the answers, Tucker," Sam cut him off, and Tucker groaned.

Danny stood up straighter as he felt the hint of a chill wash over the back of his neck. In the next second, he heard a loud crunch like something heavy cracking the pavement of the street. He leaned out from his hiding spot in an alley across the street from Axion Labs. Then he paled at the sight of a robot making its way down the street. It was easily twice his height, and looked about ten times scarier than when Danny saw it in the Masters' house. He swallowed, backing down the alley.

"Are you seeing this?" Tucker gasped with maybe just a hint of excitement at seeing the robot.

"Of course he can see it," Sam scoffed. "It's right in front of him! Besides, I'm pretty sure the screaming of people fleeing the scary robot is a dead giveaway too."

Danny ducked into the hideout he scouted at the beginning of the week. "Any ideas on how I can stop that thing?"

"Why would you - Oh, right." Tucker sounded a little disappointed at the prospect of the robot being destroyed. As he spent much of his time working on and designing robots, he probably hated the idea of tearing apart something he considered a masterpiece.

"I know this is hard for you," Danny said, balancing the phone between his ear and shoulder as he changed into his costume. "But if we don't do something to stop him, he might _kill_ Mr. Masters. Do you want to risk letting your favorite teacher become a murderer? We can stop him before he does something there's no coming back from."

After a moment of silence, in which Danny finished changing, Tucker sighed heavily. "Yeah, okay. I hate everything about this, but yeah, I don't want to see my teacher become a killer. The problem is, if he can control technology, you could tear the robot apart and he could probably just pull it all back together again."

Danny's shoulders slumped like the weight of an impossible task rested upon them. "So it's hopeless?"

"I didn't say that. If you knock Mr. Technus out, the robot will stop working."

"Right. So I have to find Mr. Technus while stopping the robot from killing Mr. Masters? Sounds easy enough." Danny rubbed at his face.

"Sam and I can look for him!" Tucker volunteered. "I might be able to track him. You just keep that robot distracted."

"Yeah, Sam will help look," Sam said, and the roll of her eyes was clear in her voice.

"Hey, you're the one with the car," Tucker pointed out. "I mean, it's unlikely that he'll be far away from the robot, but we can move faster in a car if he happens to be, I don't know, operating from a couple blocks away. Who knows how far his range of control extends?"

"Okay. You two deal with finding Mr. Technus. I have a robot to stop." Danny stowed away his bag, stuffed his phone into concealed pocket in his suit, which he had Tucker add recently, then pulled up his mask.

When he darted out of the alley, transforming before he reached the street, Danny watched as the robot smashed through the entrance of Axion Labs, shattering the glass doors. He hoped his friends could find Mr. Technus and stop him, somehow, before it was too late. Danny raced across the street, weaving through the stopped traffic. People on the street stood around, pointing at Axion Labs and whispering to each other.

"Hey, it's that Specter guy!" someone shouted, and Danny nearly tripped over his feet.

"No, that's not his name," a young girl corrected. "It's Phantom!"

Danny smiled behind his mask then plowed into the building. Some employees of Axion Labs hid behind the front desk, holding onto each other for comfort, some crying or whimpering. One woman murmured under her breath in a language Danny didn't understand but assumed she was praying in her native tongue. He knew he would be praying, too, if he was in their position.

"Are any of you hurt?" Danny asked, trying not to startle the women.

A woman with bronze skin looked up with deep brown eyes and streaks of tears down her cheeks. "We're fine," she said in a shaky voice. "That - That thing just passed us by."

Danny nodded, relieved the women were unharmed. "Stay out of sight," he advised. "I don't know how this fight might go, but I don't want any of you getting hurt."

Once he thought the women would be okay, Danny rushed off to track down the robot. Not a difficult task when the robot was large, loud, and now shouting for someone to bring him Vlad Masters. Subtlety was, apparently, not Mr. Technus' strong suit. Danny jogged up the escalator, jumping the steps two at a time and glad the robot hadn't destroyed it during its rampage through Axion Labs. He reached one of the laboratories to find the robot looming over Mr. Masters who stood with his back pressed against a wall and with no escape route.

"Well, you have me now," Mr. Masters said, oddly calm, and Danny half hoped it was all an act. How could anyone be _that_ calm with a large robot standing over them with the intent to kill? "What do you plan to do with me now? Kill me?" Mr. Masters smirked like the idea amused him.

"You're to blame for this," the robot growled as its mechanical hands twitched, fingers curling like it couldn't wait to wrap its hands around Mr. Masters' neck and strangle him. Then the robot laughed, an eerie sound filled with clicks. "All your plans and schemes, but I bet you didn't count on how this would turn out." The robot stood up straighter, spreading out its arms. "Thanks to you, I am now the master of technology. I can bend it to my will." The lights flickered and various machines within the laboratory came to life, filling the room with loud buzzing and rumbling. Then everything fell silent again. "Unfortunately, I still plan on killing you."

"Yes," Mr. Masters agreed with a frown, "that is quite unfortunate. Your ability to manipulate technology could be useful. Think of the advancements we could make now. We could make a fortune developing new means of communication, better computers. Think of what we could do in the field of medicine by creating better machines for different surgery procedures or helping to diagnose patients. We could do great things with your power."

_You could also do really crazy evil things with a guy who can control technology_ , Danny thought with a spine tingling chill trickling down his back as he pictured Mr. Technus laying waste to the world with an army of robots under his command.

"Interesting point," the robot said, taking a moment to consider what Mr. Masters said. "But why would I need you for that? I could make everything on my own and take the fortune for myself." His arms shot forward to seize Mr. Masters.

Danny launched into action the moment he saw the robot making a move to attack Mr. Masters. He shot through the robot, shifted out of intangibility just long enough to grab hold of Mr. Masters, then phased both of them through the wall where they hit the floor. Danny lay on top of the man, using his body as a shield while plaster and dust rained down upon them after the robot's arms burst through the wall.

"Reasoning with him doesn't seem to be working," Danny said, pulling Mr. Masters to his feet and dragging him away from the wall while the robot tore out chunks of the wall to get to them. "Do you happen to have a safe place to hide here?"

"I fear you may be right on that point." The color drain just a touch from Mr. Masters' face, and a hint of fear flickered in his dark blue eyes. He shouldn't think it at the moment, but Danny was partly relieved to see even Mr. Masters felt scared at times. It made the man seem actually human.

The robot finally punched a hole big enough for it to fit through, and it climbed into the room. Danny pushed Mr. Masters back a step, staying between him and the robot and acting as a shield for the man. He hoped Tucker and Sam could track down Mr. Technus because he wasn't looking forward to fighting this robot.

"If you have a safe place to hide, I would suggest heading there now," Danny said, hoping his voice sounded strong and confident because he felt shaky and, he could admit it, scared right then.

"Running away won't do you any good," the robot said. It took a swing with one arm, and Danny caught it.

Or tried. The arm slammed into his side, and he was fairly certain he heard something crack. He gasped out, agonizing pain radiating from his side, but at least he had blocked the attack. Grimacing, he kept hold of the arm and turned it intangible. It didn't extend to the entire robot. He didn't have the power to shift the whole machine to intangible, but the arm was enough for what was in his mind. He dragged the arm downward while the robot stumbled in confusion, not used to the idea of being partly intangible. Danny shoved the arm through the floor then released it. The moment his hands left it, the robot returned to a solid state with its arm stuck up to the elbow through the floor.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh!" roared the robot as it attempted to rip its arm free.

"Time to go!" Danny grabbed Mr. Masters' arm then darted for the door of the room. As they jogged down the hall and away from the angrily shouting robot, Danny couldn't help thinking that some other powers would be incredibly nice right now. Intangibility was great, and the healing factor was definitely nice, though would be a lot better if it worked faster. His side screamed with every step he took. But a power he could attack with would be extremely useful right now. He needed some way to take down the robot, and using only his hands didn't seem the quickest or most effective way. Ripping out parts hadn't done anything when the robot attacked at the Masters' house. The robot had remained functional under the control of Mr. Technus.

"Head down those stairs," Mr. Masters ordered.

Danny followed the man's directions. Behind them, he heard the thundering thumps of the robot running to catch up to them. Trapping the robot's arm in the floor hadn't stalled it for as long Danny hoped.

"In here!" Mr. Masters ducked into one of the rooms on the basement level of the building.

Danny hadn't even realized they had gone that far, but he followed Mr. Masters into the room. It didn't have much in it. A few storage cabinets stood against the walls here and there. A table with some sort of control console was set up behind a round raised platform at least four feet in diameter in the middle of the room. The raised platform _looked_ tech related, but Danny couldn't think of what function it would have. While Mr. Masters worked at the table, Danny rifled around in a storage closet for something to use against the robot.

"This doesn't look like a very safe place to hide from a killer robot," Danny commented, finding a hammer with a fist sized head. It had some weight to it. Perhaps with enough force behind it, he could punch through the robot's metal body.

Mr. Masters snorted in response. "Do you think I would sit idle after an attempt was made on my life?"

Danny frowned as he noted Mr. Masters didn't mention the danger put to his daughter because the robot attacked him at his house.

"I've been devising ways to stop that thing, and I think I may have figured it out. I just needed it to attack and lead it down here." Mr. Masters turned his gaze to the door, waiting patiently.

A trap, Danny realized. That might explain why Mr. Masters appeared relatively unfazed by the attack: he had waited for the robot to strike a second time. "So you lure it down here. Then what?"

"I need the robot to be standing there," Mr. Masters pointed to the raised platform before him, "when I activate the machine."

"Right. And the machine does what, exactly?" Danny's brow creased with concern.

The ceiling exploded, and Danny jumped out of the way as large chunks crashed down where he had stood. The robot landed on the cement flooring with loud clunks as its feet hit the ground. The right arm, which Danny had phased into the floor, was ripped off, the robot deciding to sacrifice the arm in order to pursue Mr. Masters.

"Did you think hiding down here would save you?" The robot laughed as it stood up straight. "You will never hide from me! I, Technus, master over all technology shall have my revenge for what you did!"

"I think you're a little con-" Mr. Masters was cut off with a grunt.

Danny snapped his head around toward the man. Mr. Master lay on the ground behind the table with metal tubes wrapped around his chest, squeezing tighter by the second. Danny swung the hammer at the robot, landing a strike dead center in the metal chest. The ring of metal on metal echoed in his ears. The robot swiped at him. Danny ducked then rolled through the robot. He slammed the hammer into the back of the robot's knee, knocking it down to the other knee for a brief moment.

"Little pest!" the robot shouted, shifting all its focus onto Danny.

With his adrenaline pumping, Danny could ignore most of the pain in his side, which was good because if he stopped for even a second, he knew the robot would hit him a second time, which he wasn't sure he would survive. Unfortunately, his own hits did little but dent the robot's metal body. He jumped onto the robot's back, making it stumble a step or two. As Danny brought the hammer down, the robot twisted its head all the way around, and its green T screen face glowed brightly.

"Uh oh," was all Danny could say before the blast struck him. He flew back, too fast to think of turning intangible, and crashed into a storage cabinet. It toppled over on top of him. Danny groaned, his vision blurring slightly around the edges.

"Not much of a bodyguard." The robot stomped toward Mr. Master, who had escaped the tubes and was back at the table.

"He wasn't a bodyguard." Mr. Masters' mouth curled into a smirk as the robot stepped onto the raised platform. "He was just a distraction." He flipped a switch on the control console.

Danny clamped his eyes shut as a column of bright light shot up from the raised platform. The robot shrieked, and Danny had to clap his hands over his ears at the terrible sound. Then heat washed over him as a shockwave made the storage cabinet on top of him shudder. After silence reigned for several long, tense moments, Danny opened his eyes. The air was cloudy, like someone had beaten a super dusty rug and the dust lingered in the air. Danny phased through the cabinet, feeling like a giant bruise.

"What happened?" Talking and breathing caused Danny to cough, the dust clogging up his lungs. He waved at the air, trying to clear some of the dust away from him. His legs trembled a little under him. His energy was fading. He wouldn't be able to keep up his ghost form for much longer.

"I've eliminated the threat," Mr. Masters answered like he spoke of taking out the trash. "If I were you," he shot his gaze toward Danny, "I would get out of here before the police come to ask questions about what happened."

Danny wanted to demand answers out of the man, but his head swam. His control was slipping. Even with a mask to hide his face, he didn't want to revert back to normal here in front of someone. He didn't want people knowing Phantom had another form, or even suspected it. He felt like it would risk his civilian identity if they knew anything.

"I protected you because your life was in danger," Danny said, hoping to make what he needed to say quick. "You didn't have to kill him."

"As you said, my life was threatened. I was acting to protect myself." Mr. Masters spread his hands out before him. "And anyway, it was a robot, not a living human."

Danny narrowed his eyes at the man. Something about the way he said it tickled him, but he didn't have the time to sit and puzzle over it. "There's always another way!" he shouted, anger a tight knot in his chest.

"You already said it yourself. He couldn't be reasoned with." Mr. Masters strode past him toward the door of the room. "He wouldn't have stopped any other way," he said quietly when they stood next to each other. "He was _obsessed_ with getting his revenge on me."

"What exactly did you do to him?" Danny gritted his teeth, tempted to punch the man, but he resisted the urge.

"Nothing." Mr. Masters shrugged. "I employed him from time to time for projects. When he fell into a coma, I took over medical responsibilities for him. He had no family, you know. I have no idea where this thought that I'm the villain came from." He glanced toward Danny. "I merely did as I would do for any of my employees. Now if you'll excuse me. I'm sure the police will be here soon, and they'll be asking questions. Which I'm sure you would rather avoid having to answer."

Danny squeezed his hands tightly, listening to Mr. Masters walk away from him. Nothing about what happened felt right to him. A moment passed, allowing Mr. Masters to get far enough away that he could no longer hear him, then Danny jogged down the hall, trying to ignore all the aches and pains and the swirl of thoughts in his head. He needed to get back to where he stashed his bag, change, then find Sam and Tucker.


	36. Chapter 36

"My parents are going to start asking a lot of questions if I keep coming home with new injuries," Danny said as Sam finished bandaging his torso. Thankfully, he hadn't broken anything in the fight against Mr. Technus' robot, but he had some serious bruises from the hits he took.

After he left Axion Labs, he had to carefully sneak off, going around the long way to reach his bag while a crowd of people showed up to see what was happening after the appearance of a large robot smashing through the front door. He even spotted a news crew, or two, and cringed when he thought about Lance Thunder reporting on the story. There was no doubt in Danny's mind the reporter would paint Phantom out to be a villain.

Once he had changed into his normal clothes, Danny found Sam and Tucker parked around the corner waiting for him. He climbed into the backseat, and Sam drove them back to their usual warehouse hangout for discussing Phantom stuff. Since the warehouse stored medical supplies, they basically had the largest first aid kit available to them.

"At least he wasn't shooting out electricity this time," Sam said with worry in her frown and the crease of her brow.

"Yeah, I've been electrocuted more than enough for one lifetime," Danny said, trying to play it off as a joke with a light laugh. It didn't seem to erase any of his friend's concern. "So," he turned his gaze to Tucker, who had been silent since he met back up with them, "what happened with finding Technus?"

Tucker's face pinched up, and Danny thought his friend was about to explode into an angry rant. "It took me a while to figure out how to track him," he said in a tight, even voice. "By the time I located him, he was inside Axion Labs."

"What?" Danny shouted as he sat up straighter then winced, bending over with a hand to his side. He couldn't make any fast movements without his side screaming in agony. Now that he didn't have the adrenaline or anger fueling him, all the little aches and pains felt even more acute. His healing factor was working, but it was too slow for his liking. "He could still be there," he wheezed out.

Tucker shook his head, frowning as he watched his friend. "The signal vanished a few minutes before you jumped into the car."

Danny slumped slightly as he thought over the comment. "Wait." He pinched the bridge of his nose, his head pounding like another storage closet had slammed down on top of him. "The signal vanished right around the same time that Mr. Masters basically vaporized the robot?" He stared with his mouth gaping open at Tucker.

"He what?" Tucker shouted, launching to his feet. "Okay. I know it was a killer robot and all. But do you realize how amazing it was? I could have learned a lot just by having a single part of that robot."

"Well," Danny frowned, seeing how much learning more about robotics meant to his friend, "I did phase one arm into the floor of one of the labs. The robot detached it after that. But I don't think we'll be able to get that back from Mr. Masters."

"So are you still going to sit there and try to say there's not something weird going on here with Mr. Masters?" Sam folded her arms as she leaned back against the shelves of boxes. She gave him a pointed look that didn't _quite_ say "I told you so," but Danny still got that impression. "Mr. Technus went after him for a reason. And I'm guessing that reason is because of how he became all technopathy. And now, you just watched Mr. Masters destroy Mr. Technus' robot without even a second of hesitation."

"Okay!" Danny shouted before Sam could continue. "I get it. Mr. Masters may not be as good a person as I thought." He sighed, leaning back against the shelves as exhaustion swept over him. "He made this whole speech about all the good they could do with Mr. Technus' ability, and it sounded pretty convincing. But if he could do that to the robot, then I guess it was all just a means of manipulation. If he couldn't get Mr. Technus to agree with him, destroying his robot was a perfectly acceptable alternative."

Danny felt completely duped by the man. Mr. Masters was an excellent actor, and maybe that was a good tool for a business man when he talked to other companies for contracts and the like. The lack of remorse Mr. Masters showed after the robot's destruction, however, still left Danny with a cold sensation seeping deep down into his very core.

"But," Danny frowned, struggling with his thoughts, "it was only a robot. Right?" He looked to his friend, hoping to drive away at least a small portion of the sick feeling churning inside him.

"I-" Tucker shrugged with a helpless look. "I don't really know. I mean, the night Mr. Technus first appeared, you said he appeared in the electricity or something. I've been thinking maybe he doesn't have to have a," he glanced between his friends then frowned, "physical form."

"So you mean-" Danny's brow knitted as he tried to follow his friend's thinking.

"He can probably exist _as_ electricity," Tucker clarified. "I don't think he was controlling the robot from afar. I think he _was_ the robot."

"Then Mr. Masters really - I think I'm going to be sick." Danny leaned forward, putting his head between his knees as he took deep breaths to calm the storm raging inside him. He didn't want to think about having two people killed right in front of him and being able to do nothing to save either of them.

"I'm not entirely sure on that," Tucker said thoughtfully. "If Mr. Technus can exist as electricity, then whatever Mr. Masters did might not have completely destroyed him. Or he could have abandoned the robot before Mr. Masters was able to blow it up."

"But then why did the signal vanish?" Sam questioned.

"I - I don't know. Hey, I'm just trying to throw out ideas!" Tucker threw up his arms. "Forgive me if I don't exactly want my former teacher to be dead." He frowned, pulling up his knees and seeming to withdraw into himself. "I know he was trying to kill Mr. Masters, but-"

"Tuck, none of us wanted Mr. Technus," Danny choked on the word, "killed or whatever happened to him. He was angry about what was done to him. But maybe we could have done something to calm him down and help him so he wouldn't want to kill Mr. Masters. There was another way to deal with the situation. There _had_ to be another way than killing."

"Danny, what happened wasn't your fault." Sam placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort her friend. "You were just trying to keep Mr. Masters safe. You didn't know the whole story about what was going on between them. You certainly didn't know what Mr. Masters had planned. You can't blame yourself."

"Yeah," Tucker agreed, "and we still don't know that what Mr. Masters did really killed Mr. Technus. He could still be out there. Somewhere."

Danny could hear the hope in his friend's voice, but a knot of dread built up in his chest. "But if he _is_ still out there, that means he could planning his next attack on Mr. Masters."

"Speaking of Mr. Masters," Sam said, and Danny suspected she was attempting to change the topic just so he wouldn't focus on wanting to stop anything more happening between the two men, "what are you going to do about Elle? Are you still going to tutor her even knowing about her dad?"

"Why not?" Danny blinked as he frowned. "Elle isn't her dad. I'm not going to punish her because her dad is some sort of creep. She's actually pretty smart, though her dad has her thinking she isn't."

Maybe Elle didn't understand everything in her classes, but book smarts weren't everything. Elle was smart in other ways. She was friendly and outgoing, easy to talk to and funny. She could dance and sing. Danny thought it was a shame her father couldn't see what an amazing daughter he had simply because she wasn't getting the grades he wanted her to get and didn't want to take over his business in the future.

With a sigh, and a winced, Danny stood. "I think any more talk can wait for another day." He brain felt fried after everything that happened. He ached all over, and he wanted nothing more to sleep for the rest of the day. "I still have homework to get finished. I have that book report due tomorrow, and I still have about fifty pages left to read in the book."

Tucker groaned. "I still have math." He turned to Sam with a hopeful look.

"I'll _help_ ," Sam said with a pointed stare, "but I won't give you any of the answers."

Tucker sighed, hanging his head slightly. "Well, I'll take what I can get."

Danny chuckled at his friends as they left the warehouse. Talking about mundane things like doing homework helped ease his mind so he could relax and put away the worries filling his mind when he ran around as Phantom. They said goodnight to the warehouse employee on their way out then climbed into Sam's car. Danny leaned back in the backseat and allowed his whole body to relax for the duration of the car ride to his house.

When they arrived at his house, Danny waved goodbye to his friends. Then he headed into his house. He popped into the front room to let his parents know he had come home. He doubted his mother liked that he stayed out late every night, but she seemed to relax a little, no longer being so panicked about something happening to him. Once he was up in his room, Danny didn't have to pretend anymore. The robot had done a number on his ribs, and Danny wanted to lay down and wait for the pain to leave him. Instead, he took a seat at his desk and grabbed his book for class. He needed to get the book report done! He didn't want to face the disappointment from Lancer if he failed to get it finished on time.

 

Danny arrived at school the next morning, wondering how he was even awake. Or maybe how he was even alive. He felt half dead after a night spent doing homework. His body was mostly healed. He winced as he pulled open the front door of the school. He was somewhat healed. His side had a nasty bruise covering most of it, and it hurt to move sometimes. He took a deep breath as he entered the school and nearly wheezed as it upset his bruised ribs.

"You're not healed up yet?" Tucker asked when Danny joined his friends in walking down the hall toward their lockers.

Danny grimaced. "What do you think?" He sighed then lowered his voice. "The healing factor doesn't mean everything heals up immediately. And apparently nearly having my ribs broken takes a much longer time to heal than one night."

"Ugh, that sucks! You'd think with super healing, you'd be able to heal just like that." Tucker snapped his fingers.

"Trust me. I'd be happy if I did heal up faster." Danny rubbed at his sore ribs. "But right now, I'm just glad I didn't get killed in that fight. I'm pretty sure that robot could have killed me if it tried."

"Except that he was more focused on taking out his revenge on Mr. Masters," Sam said. "You were pretty much just a little bug buzzing around being a nuisance."

"Thanks." Danny gave his friend a dry glare. He didn't like people thinking of him as nothing more than a nuisance. He hated to say it, but it did hurt his pride. It reminded him of the years he spent feeling like a nothing in the shadow of his sister's intelligence. Jazz was always a genius, and his parents were geniuses. Before he dedicated himself more to his schoolwork, Danny felt stupid, like he was a disappointment to the rest of his family because he didn't share in his family's genius. Even his sister's encouragement didn't help him feel better. It wasn't until Lancer sat him down and talked to him and encouraged him that Danny finally thought something of himself. Like Lancer had said, with a little effort, Danny was able to improve his grades, and that was why he never wanted to disappoint his teacher.

"I just meant that it was good Mr. Technus wasn't serious about killing you." Sam frowned, seeing her effort to make Danny feel better hadn't worked.

"Hey, did you catch the news last night?" Tucker asked.

"Book report. Remember? I spent the entire night in my room to work on it." Danny normally would have watched the news, but when he needed to buckle down and focus on his homework, he studied in his room. He also needed to use his computer to type up and print out his book report.

"Oh. Right." Tucker winced for a moment. Then he pulled out his phone and played with it for a moment before he handed it over to Danny. "Check this out."

Danny scrolled through the article on Tucker's phone. The news article talked about the incident yesterday, including several quotes from Mr. Masters. Danny frowned as he read it, his brow creasing with each word his eyes passed over. "He's trying to pass off what happened as a malfunctioning robot prototype that they lost control of?" Danny gaped at his friend. "He's lying about everything that happened!"

"Did you expect him to tell the truth?" Sam asked, folding her arms. "This is the kind of thing my parents do when there are accidents. They falsify what happens to keep in good public opinion. Think about how people would see him and his company if they knew the truth behind why the robot was attacking."

"But hey, at least he's helping to improve the public opinion about Phantom," Tucker offered. "And actually getting your name right."

"Lance Thunder still gets it wrong," Danny grumbled. "And I don't want Mr. Masters doing me any favors. I don't want him thinking I owe him for anything." He still felt disheartened knowing Mr. Masters wasn't entirely the man he thought he was.

"Ms. Reyes, I will confiscate that music player if I see you listening to it in class again," Lancer threatened, drawing the attention of the three friends to him.

The teacher stood by the normal grouping of the A List. Paulina, Star, and Valerie all dressed alike in a black halter top with a single strap that showed off a good portion of their midriffs. Their hair, which they usually wore down, was now tied back in high ponytails with streaks of bright neon blue. They looked like they were ready to hit the stage to perform as an eighties rock band. Danny's brow creased in puzzlement as he stared at the odd fashion choice. Odd for the A List women, at least.

"And you, Mr. Daly," Lancer spun around and pointed a finger at a jock with curly red hair, "detention after school."

"What? But I didn't do anything!" complained the jock.

"Ms. Conlin is clearly uncomfortable with your flirtations," Lancer said, frowning at the jock.

"Well, look at her." Daly gestured at the woman next to him. Conlin was a head shorter than the jock and had fairly wide hips. The pink top she wore had a low collar which showed a generous amount of ample chest. Conlin flushed darkly, hugging her books to her chest to hide herself. She kept her brown eyes cast down at the floor.

Lancer stormed over to where the jock stood. "Ms. Conlin's attire is not permission to harass her."

"But-"

"She shouldn't be made to feel ashamed of wearing something she likes because some men don't have the decency to show women respect," Lancer cut off the jock before he could attempt a protest. "I have witnessed your interactions with Ms. Conlin on more than one occasion, and she has told you repeatedly that she is not interested in dating you. You will cease now, or for every time I see you making Ms. Conlin or another student uncomfortable with your unwanted flirtation, I was give you detention."

"That's not fair!" argued Daly.

"What's not fair is the way you make this school an uncomfortable learning environment for the female student body. I'll see you today, after school, for detention."

"Let's get out of here before Lancer finds a reason to yell at us," Tucker suggested. Sam nodded agreement, and the two of them headed for their lockers.

Danny hesitated then walked over to where the A List were talking.

"Ugh! Can you believe Lancer said he would take away my music player?" Paulina complained.

"On the bright side, at least we got those tickets for the concert tomorrow night," Dash said with a wide grin. "All thanks to Kwan." He slapped a hand to his friend's back.

"Uh, Valerie," Danny spoke up then swallowed back his courage as the five A List members turned their gazes upon him with varying degrees of annoyance, except for Kwan.

"What do you want?" Valerie glowered at him.

"I just wanted to ask you something," Danny explained as he glanced nervously at the other teenagers.

"We'll see you later, Val." Kwan nudged Dash, Paulina, and Star to get moving, though none of them looked happy.

"Okay. What is it?" Valerie folded her arms, hugging a sticker covered notebook to her chest. "Being seen talking to a loser doesn't exactly help with my social standings. I don't need that crazy counselor coming after me again because she thinks I need her help."

"You too, huh?" Danny huffed a sigh. "Ms. Spectra keeps trying to encourage me to come to her office and talk about what happened." He scratched the back of his head. "So, um, I was wondering if your dad said anything. About his investigation into Jazz's murder." He raised his hand quickly. "Not pressuring or anything. Just," he shrugged, "curious." Since his own investigation was stalled, he hoped maybe he could get some hints from Valerie.

"Oh." Valerie's expression changed, but just slightly. "Look. My dad doesn't make a habit of talking about cases with me. All I know, is some guy came in saying he saw what happened, but based on his description, they haven't had much luck finding the shooter."

Danny sighed, lowering his gaze. He was happy Spike at least did as he ordered and went to the police about the shooting. "Well, thanks anyway." When he lifted his gaze, something about Valerie's notebook caught his attention. "Is that," he pointed at one of the stickers, taking up most of the middle of the notebook, "Ember?"

Valerie glanced down at the sticker. "Yeah." She snorted at him. "She's only the coolest rock star ever. Have you been living under a rock?"

Danny frowned. "I guess I've just been a bit distracted. That concert Dash mentioned-"

Valerie rolled her eyes. "Ember has a concert tomorrow night, and we're all going. And don't even think about trying to get tickets now. The concert's sold out."

"That's-" Danny shook his head. "Sorry. I just wanted to ask about Jazz." He hurried off down the hall to his locker. If he wasn't running the risk of being late for class, he would call Elle immediately. Ember had a concert? But those men who approached her with the card were involved with the recent robberies. Could Kyle have been mistake? Danny rubbed at his forehead, feeling a headache pounding against his skull. What he did know was one way or another, he needed to attend that concert.

He almost reached his locker when he spotted a student kneeling on the ground, gathering up books and papers scattered around him. Danny crouched down beside him to help, but the student snatched the book right out of his hands the second Danny touched it.

"I don't need your help," Poindexter growled, shoving the book into his bag where Danny thought he caught a flash of silver.

"I was just trying-"

"I said I don't need it!" Poindexter threw his bag over his shoulder and stomped down the hall.

With a puzzled furrow in his brow, Danny watched Poindexter leave. What was all that about? He scratched his head as he stood then continued to his locker where his friends waited for him.


	37. Chapter 37

Danny tapped the back of his phone as he stared at the screen. D told him he wouldn't be able to contact him for a while, but Danny couldn't help wondering where the man went, why he couldn't at least shoot a text saying he was okay, or if he even was okay. For all he knew, D could be lying in some ditch dying, and Danny would never know.

"Forget about it," he whispered to himself as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. D had a job. He didn't have the time to waste on a high school teenager. Danny had his own problems to worry about now anyway. While his search for his sister's killer was proving fruitless thus far, he finally had a lead on the whereabouts of Ember.

After school, Danny sent a text to Elle about the concert. Two seconds later, he answered his phone and had to hold it away from his ear when Elle practically shrieked like a banshee. Now, he chuckled at the memory. Elle demanded all the details: how did he learn about the concert, when was the concert, where was the concert? She wanted to know everything.

Unfortunately, Danny didn't know enough about the concert to provide her with all the details she wanted. He explained about how nearly half his school was dressing up like Ember, which Danny nearly smacked himself in the forehead for not realizing sooner. He remembered the poster Elle had on the wall of her bedroom. It showed Ember in the same style of clothing he saw the A List women wearing. But it didn't connect in his brain until after he saw the Ember sticker on Valerie's notebook. The only thing he knew about the concert, though, was it would be this Saturday night. Elle was disappointed about that since she wanted to get tickets so she could maybe get in touch with Ember to find out why she disappeared without a single word.

Danny raked a hand through his hair as he walked down the street. The night seemed rather dead with no signs of any criminal activity happening. He couldn't even find something as simple as a purse robbery to stop. Part of him regretted not asking Valerie about Gregor and if her father got any information out of him, but she would probably want to know why he was asking about something seemingly unrelated to his sister's murder.

His phone buzzing at his hip interrupted his thoughts. Danny pulled out his phone, half expecting it to be a text from D because he was just thinking about the man a moment ago. Instead, it was a call from his friends.

"Tell me you have something," Danny said when he answered the phone. Wandering around the streets with absolutely zero activity happening was mind numbingly dull.

"Well, tickets," Sam replied with a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Sorry. I'm just-" Danny stopped, standing up a bit straighter. "Wait. Did you just say you got the tickets to the Ember concert tomorrow night?"

"Yes," Sam said in exasperation, "and please don't ask about how I got them. I don't want to talk about it."

"All I could get out of her was that it had something to do with Paulina," Tucker said, sounding as equally baffled as Danny felt.

"Okay. I really need to hear this story." Danny laughed, already trying to imagine exactly how the conversation between Sam and Paulina went. He couldn't envision it without the two women fighting and yelling at each other. Sam and Paulina didn't seem to be capable of being in the same room without finding some reason to pick a fight with each other.

Sam huffed out an angry breath. "Look. It doesn't matter how I got them. The worse part of this whole thing is that Paulina now thinks I'm trying to be popular by liking the same music as them. Ugh! Gag me! Like I would ever like anything she likes."

"Actually, Elle says Ember is pretty good. Why is it such a bad thing to like something that Paulina likes?" Danny winced when he heard a frustrated growl on the other end of the phone. 

"She's the one that stole my Babbling Baby Betty doll in kindergarten!" Sam snapped, nearly shouting into the phone.

Danny bit his tongue but couldn't stop the small snicker that escaped him. "You had a Babbling Baby Betty doll?" He vaguely recalled the toy being all the rage among the girls in their class, but he couldn't recall Sam having one, though they didn't become real friends until second grade.

"My grandmother gave it to me," Sam explained through gritted teeth. "And Paulina just took it from me for no reason. Then she _lied_ about taking it."

"Right," Danny mumbled, a little stunned by the outburst. "So you got the tickets," he said, hoping a change in topic would help to calm his friend. He continued walking down the street, but it seemed like nothing was going to happen tonight. He turned down another street to head back toward his house.

"Yes, we got tickets," Sam responded dryly.

"Hey, these are pretty close to the stage," Tucker said. "Sweet! Wait. Could you have scored us backstage passes? Because that would have been - OW!"

"I hope you didn't hurt him too badly." Danny lifted an eyebrow as he listened to the commotion on the other end of the phone.

"He'll live," Sam said. "Probably. I can't believe you're making me go to this awful concert."

"You haven't even heard what she sounds like," Danny argued, "but thank you for getting the tickets. Elle will appreciate finally learning the whole story about why Ember disappeared."

"Well, at least that mystery will be solved," Tucker said with a grunt of pain in his voice.

"Yeah, one less problem hanging over my head." Danny sighed and rubbed at his forehead. But it was only one problem to cross off his list. He still had plenty more problems to worry about solving. "It doesn't look I'm going to be finding any clues tonight."

"No one hitting up any of the places on our list?" Sam seemed to frown with the question.

"Holy CPU!" Tucker shouted. "You'll never believe what's happening."

"What is - Bats!" Sam gasped.

"Okay. One of you tell me what's happening," Danny ordered, hating that he was left out of the loop.

"There's a police report," Tucker explained. "They're outside the Nasty Burger."

"Our Nasty Burger?" Danny's eyes widened.

"Yup!" Tucker answered. "According to what they're saying, it sounds like someone came in with a gun. Now the place is boarded up, and the gunman is threatening to start shooting the people inside if the police attempt to enter. But he hasn't made any demands yet."

"I'm heading over there." Danny ran down the street, changing his route to head toward the Nasty Burger instead of heading home.

"Danny-" Sam hesitated, like she was about to protest his decision. Then she sighed. "Be careful."

"Of course." The corner of Danny's mouth twitched. "I'll get back to you later." After ending the call, he shoved his phone back into his pocket. Then he pushed himself to run faster with the thought that he would be too late and someone would get hurt or killed driving him. He had failed his sister. He had, potentially, failed Mr. Technus. He wasn't going to allow a third failure to happen.

It was kind of scary, arriving at a place where he hung out with his friends all the time and seeing five or six police cars parked outside. He could see the lights on inside the building through the cracks of the boards blocking the windows. The police stood around, waiting for orders from the one in charge, which was Valerie's dad. Unfortunately, Officer Walker was present too, and he seemed to be arguing with Police Chief Gray on how to handle the situation. Danny guessed Officer Walker wanted to storm into the building and subdue the gunman. He doubted Valerie's dad would do anything before a negotiator could talk to the gunman and hopefully work out some way for the gunman to release the hostages.

Danny slipped around to the back of a nearby building where he wouldn't be spotted should any of the police officers look in his direction. After quickly changing into his costume, stowing away his bag, and transforming, he sneaked toward the back entrance of the fast food joint.

_Invisibility would be really nice right now_ , Danny thought as he stared at the door before him. With his side still a massive bruise, he hoped not to take any more damage in a fight. He focused his mind on the idea of invisibility, even though he had never succeeded at it. The familiar tingle of his body shifting to intangible washed over him. Then with a deep breath, he walked through the door. When he glanced around, he saw no signs of anyone within the kitchen. He decided not to look too closely at anything, just in case he saw something that turned him off eating at the Nasty Burger. He walked quietly to the kitchen door, keeping his breath even. A mantra ran through his mind, even as he glanced through the round window on the door: You are nothing, you don't exist; therefore, no one can see you. He hoped it worked, but if it didn't, he would have to improvise.

From his vantage point, he couldn't see much of the dining area. Everyone seemed to be rounded up in the middle, and Danny 's mouth went dry when he spotted the A List. Dash, Paulina, and Star huddled around something that Danny couldn't really make out, but he couldn't see Kwan or Valerie among the crowd. Cold coiled around him, and his stomach felt like lead. In his ghost form, he watched the little green blobs gather around where the three A Listers huddled. One of them, which looked vaguely cat like, was either hissing or growling, but either way, it appeared angry.

Danny searched for the gunman. When he found the man, he nearly jumped away from the door in surprise. Because no way could this be happening! Scrawny, thin as a beanstalk, Sidney Poindexter paced around several feet away from his hostages. Sidney Poindexter with his bucked teeth and thick framed glasses, who dressed and styled his raven hair like he was stuck in the fifties, muttered to himself as he waved around the gun. Danny hoped this was one time when Poindexter showed some stupidity and didn't realize he needed to remove the safety in order to fire a gun. Some dreadful feeling told him Poindexter _did_ know that though. The ghost blobs gathered around Poindexter too, but they somehow didn't seem quite the same as the ones Danny was used to seeing. These ghosts struck him as almost malicious.

Danny shifted his gaze back to the hostages. He needed to get them out of the Nasty Burger before any of them got hurt. Moving away from the door, he positioned himself before the counter on the other side of the wall. He crouched low then passed through the wall. Whatever Poindexter muttered to himself as he paced, Danny was too far away to hear it. After he waddled over to the counter, he carefully peeked over the top of it. He counted at least twenty people present. Most of them were students from Casper High, and a couple of them were employees. How was he going to sneak all of them out of there? He doubted he could extend his intangibility to all of them if they were holding hands, and taking them out one by one would take too long and eventually be discovered. If he could get them into the kitchen, they could sneak out the back by themselves, but it was still risky, if Poindexter looked over to see what was happening.

Then Danny caught Dash's eye. Panic shot through him as he saw Dash's mouth open like it was happening in slow motion. He shook his head quickly and put a finger to his mouth to signify silence. Everything would be ruined if Dash blurted out that he was there, and clearly his attempt at being invisible didn't work. His gaze darted toward the gunman, but Poindexter was now at a window, peeking through the small sliver of an opening between the boards blocking the view of the outside world. Danny took the chance and phased through the counter, hurrying over to the crowd all the while making shushing motions to let everyone know not to make a big commotion when they spot him.

"Is everyone-" Danny paled behind his mask, his blood turning to ice in his veins. Now he understood why the ghost blobs had gathered here. The three A Listers were huddled up like a guard for Kwan. Danny hadn't seen him because the jock lay on the ground while Valerie crouched over him, keeping a towel pressed to his side. Blood already spotted the white cloth. He turned to Dash. "What happened?"

"Poindexter came in suddenly, waving a gun around," Dash explained, his voice unnaturally shaky. "He had it pointed at me, but Kwan pushed me out of the way when the gun went off. He _needs_ to get to the hospital! But Poindexter freaked out and won't let anyone in or out."

Danny swallowed, his throat feeling too tight. He was too late to protect everyone from getting hurt. But he refused to let this end in death. Especially not Kwan, who was nice to everyone. "I'm going to try to subdue him," he explained, but he had no idea how this would go. If Poindexter shot at him, he could turn intangible to avoid it, but if someone was behind him, he risked letting someone else get shot. "If you can, I think you should try to get to the kitchen. You can sneak out the backdoor." He turned to Valerie. "The Police Chief is outside right now. Can you make a call to him about getting an ambulance here right away?"

Valerie blinked at him, puzzlement passing through her green eyes. "Uh, yeah, probably. He didn't bother to take our phones away." Star moved to take over keeping pressure on the wound while Valerie fished out her phone with trembling hands.

"What's going on?" Poindexter shouted, wheeling around on the hostages. Fearful gasps and murmurs washed through the huddled crowd. Some of them were in tears, holding each other for comfort and support. Poindexter's gaze snapped around, looking like wild beast. The ghost blobs circled around his head, sometimes pausing by his ears as if to whisper vile thoughts into his head.

Danny sucked in a deep breath and held very still, like that would somehow keep Poindexter from noticing the stranger in a masked costume.

"Someone answer me!" Poindexter shouted, pointing his gun at them. A couple of the hostages whimpered or released terrified screams.

Paulina glanced around then whispered to her friends. "Hey, where'd he go?"

Danny stared at her for a moment then waved a hand before her eyes, but she gave no sign of seeing it. He jumped to his feet in surprise, looking down at himself but seeing nothing. He was invisible! The corner of his mouth curled into a smirk, excitement spreading through him. This might work! He moved silently through the crowd of scared hostages and approached Poindexter, who demanded again for an answer.

Danny stood right before his fellow Casper High student when Poindexter released a startled shout and pointed the gun at him. It took a moment to register in his head what was happening. Poindexter shouted, and Danny reacted, grabbing his arm. They struggled, and the gun went off. The bullet struck the ceiling after Danny managed to point Poindexter's arm upward. Screams pierced through the ringing in Danny's left ear, the gun having fired far too close to it. Poindexter growled, his wild eyes focused on Danny. His grip tightened around Poindexter's wrist, and Danny could feel the bones rubbing against each other. After a moment, he managed to force Poindexter to release his hold on the gun.

"Everyone, get out of here!" Danny shouted now that the gun was out of play and Poindexter was no match for his superior strength.

"No!" Poindexter shrieked as he attempted to dive for the gun.

Danny twisted his arm around, pinning it behind his back as he grabbed hold of the free arm. He wouldn't allow Poindexter the chance to snatch up the gun and hurt someone else. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as several of the hostages scrambled to their feet and bolted toward the exit. The A Listers remained as they were, protecting Kwan from being trampled and maintaining pressure on his wound. Outside of the Nasty Burger, Danny heard sirens from the approaching ambulance.

"Why do you protect them?" Poindexter shouted as the little ghosts danced angrily about his head, stirring into a frenzy in response the Poindexter's emotions. He struggled and fought against Danny but was too weak to manage an escape. "They're the enemy! All they do is bully people! Torment them! They deserve this!"

His own rage burned through him. Danny shoved Poindexter forward until he slammed the other man into the wall. "What has Kwan ever done to deserve lying on the floor right now bleeding from a gunshot wound _you_ gave him?" he demanded, struggling to hold back his strength and anger before he did something he regretted later.

"He shouldn't have gotten in the way," Poindexter snapped, not sounding the least bit remorseful.

"Release the kid!" ordered someone with an all too familiar voice.

Danny had focused all of his attention on Poindexter and keeping him from doing any more harm. He failed to hear when the doors of the Nasty Burger opened and the police officers filed in to deal with the gunman. His throat ran dry with dread, but he turned to face the man who spoke. Officer Walker had a gone pointed right at his head. Paramedics were already kneeling beside Kwan, checking his wound before moving him onto a stretcher to carry him back to the ambulance.

"That's how you thank the guy who just apprehended the gunman for you?" Danny asked in slight offense.

"Stand down, Walker," Police Chief Gray said, pushing down the other officer's arms so the gun was no longer pointed at Danny. "We don't need to make the situation worse."

"He is a wanted criminal," Officer Walker argued.

"And right now, we owe him our thanks," Police Chief Gray countered with a stern glare, "so you will stand down." He turned to Danny while Walker grumbled and glared darkly at the both of them. "Thank you, Phantom. We'll take it from here."

One of the other officers stepped over with handcuffs at the ready. Danny moved aside to allow the officer to take Poindexter into custody. Officer Walker watched his every move, making Danny feel more than a little unnerved by the attention. Danny cautiously backed up a few steps. Even though Valerie's dad was giving him the get out of jail free card today, Danny doubted Officer Walker would stick to it if he got the chance to corner Danny alone.

"Right." Danny cleared his throat and attempted to sound more commanding and less like an awkward teenager. "Just happy to have helped." He took another step back toward the kitchen. "And since you have a handle on the situation now, I shall leave the rest to you." He saluted Police Chief Gray then turned and ducked through the kitchen. After he checked to make sure no one was looking, he sneaked back to where he left his bag. The ringing remained in his left ear as he quickly changed into his normal clothes. He winced, hoping his healing would fix that soon, but his biggest concern for the moment was Kwan. He didn't see the extent of the wound, but he hoped the jock would be okay. At the thought that the wound might be fatal, Danny felt sick, a hollowness building inside him. He didn't want to lose another person he knew.


	38. Chapter 38

"I can't believe something like this happened."

Danny stepped into the kitchen after he heard his father speak. The events of last night were plastered over the front page of the newspaper, and seeing it brought a sick feeling churning inside Danny. He had acted while pushing back how he felt because at the time it was more important to stop Poindexter before anything worse could happen. Once it was all done and he sat alone in his room last night, Danny struggled to keep from vomiting as he remembered seeing Kwan on the floor. The image was made worse in his head when it appeared without the rest of the A List, when it was just Kwan with a terrible gunshot wound in his side and blood spilling out of him. Danny tried not to think about it, about seeing everyone at the Nasty Burger fatally wounded and blood everywhere, if he had been too late to help them. He _needed_ to put those thoughts out of his mind before they completely consumed him.

"Oh, Danny!" His father grabbed the newspaper off the table and folded it up so the big picture from the Nasty Burger after Poindexter was arrested couldn't be seen. "Didn't see you there!" His father laughed awkwardly.

Danny smiled a little, mostly to himself, when he realized his father was just trying to protect him from an awful reality. His father probably thought his son didn't need any more terrible images in his head after being with Jazz when she died. Danny agreed, partially, but the world was filled with terrible tragedies and he couldn't simply blind himself to them.

"Dad, it's okay," Danny told him. "I already heard about what happened at the Nasty Burger."

"Oh." His father frowned then laid the folded newspaper onto the table. "Well, it's a horrible thing. I'm glad you and your friends weren't at the Nasty Burger last night." He shook his head with a sigh. "I don't understand how something like that could happen. Why would a smart young man like this Poindexter kid do a thing like that?"

Danny shrugged. "He was bullied a lot in school. I guess he just couldn't take it anymore."

He frowned when he realized it could have easily been him instead of Poindexter last night. They were both bullied at school, Poindexter perhaps a little worse than Danny. But while Danny had friends and family who cared about him and helped him to brush off the bullying instead of wanting to take revenge, Poindexter lacked all that. Maybe if he had friends, Poindexter wouldn't have tried to kill the ones who made his school life miserable. But the ghosts floating around his head and whispering vile things into his ears probably didn't help Poindexter with his decision making.

"I'm no stranger to being bullied either," his father said, his usually jolly face grim with concern. "I've always been a bit bigger than most kids." He patted his stomach, but he didn't look embarrassed or ashamed of his weight. "And the whole ghost thing." He waved a hand but didn't say anything more about it.

"Speaking of ghosts," Danny said, taking the segue his father gave him.

"Danny, you know your mother and I don't talk about the work we do," his father said, though he looked like he was eager to ramble on about ghost. His dark blue eyes twinkled with the excitement of his son taking an interest in ghosts.

"Then what's all that?" Danny pointed at the blueprints and notes and various parts laid out on the kitchen table.

"Uh." His father glanced away, slightly embarrassed since they usually kept all their project in their laboratory. "All right. I just brought up a few things to work on." He folded his arms as he stared at his son. "Now what were you going to ask?"

"Well," Danny slid into a chair at the table, "you've done a lot of research about ghosts, right?"

"As much as possible," his father agreed. "We'd be able to learn a lot more if we could find some ghosts. But," he sighed, hanging his head a little, "that Portal idea has never worked."

"But you would agree that not all ghosts are evil, right?" Hope spread through Danny as he waited anxiously for an answer.

His father sat for a moment, considering the question. "Well, I suppose it's just like us. I mean, ghosts are the result of people who have died. It's not surprising that some might be evil while others are good. Good ghosts are just as capable of having regrets that cause them to linger after life." He paused then leaned one elbow on the table as he eyed his son curiously. "What has you interest in this?"

"Oh, you know." Danny shrugged. "I've just been thinking a lot about, um, ghosts since," he lowered his gaze, "Jazz."

"Oh." His father sounded like he had the wind punched out of him. He rested a hand upon Danny's shoulder. "I know how much it hurts. I miss Jazz too. But Jazz isn't a ghost. I wouldn't want her to be. I just want her to be at peace."

Danny nodded with his head bowed, guilt feeling like a hard cold lump in his stomach. Even with the time that had passed, it wasn't any easier remembering Jazz was gone. It was hard to talk about, even with his parents. Maybe the reason was because they were family that made it harder, because he knew they were suffering just like he was and he didn't want to make it harder on them.

"It's just," Danny rubbed at the back of his neck, "I wondered if maybe it was possible for evil, or at least malicious, ghosts to influence people. Like if they whispered bad thoughts into someone's mind, encouraging them to do something bad. Do you think that's possible?"

"Well," his father gave the question some consideration, "I suppose that is a possible theory. However, I wouldn't say you should blame it entirely on the ghosts. Even if they _are_ whispering into someone's ear, they can't force a person to do something, especially if it's not something a person would already be willing to do. Like, they couldn't convince a person to jump off a building and kill themselves if they weren't already in the frame of mind to do that on their own."

"So if a kid was bullied and feeling really frustrated about it and already had thoughts about getting revenge on the people who tortured him, then these bad ghosts could pick at that point, encouraging him to do it?"

His father stared at him, frowning, and Danny shifted nervously, fearing he might have just given his father too big a hint about the truth. "I suppose something like that could happen. But, Danny, sometimes, bad things just happen. You can't look to blame every bad action on ghosts."

"I know. I just - It was a theory I'd been thinking about lately." Danny rolled one shoulder.

His father clapped him on the shoulder, giving Danny a little shake. "My boy! Coming up with ghost theories all on his own. Makes a father proud."

Danny flushed with embarrassment, but the doorbell ringing saved him from having to respond to his father's comment. "I'll get it." He jumped from his seat and darted out of the kitchen, thoughts still churning in his mind. When he opened the front door, Danny blinked in surprise as he stared at the man on the doorstep. "Police Chief Gray!"

"Ah, just Mr. Gray will do," he said with a small smile. "Are your parents in? I was hoping to talk to them."

"Is it about Jazz's murder?' Danny's heart froze in his chest. Did they find out something about the man who killed Jazz? Maybe they had already caught him and Mr. Gray came by to tell them. He squashed down that hope, knowing it would only hurt more when it turned out to be wrong.

"Sadly, no." Mr. Gray frowned, bowing his head slightly. He seemed as disappointed about his response as Danny felt. Danny's shoulders sagged, his whole posture deflating with sorrow. "I'm sorry," Mr. Gray said. "I wish I had better news. But I promise we won't give up until we find the person responsible for killing your sister."

"Ah, Damon!" his mother greeted as she entered the hall. "We were beginning to wonder if you had decided not to stop by today after all."

"Pardon my lateness," Mr. Gray replied. "I had a few things at work to deal with before I could make it."

"Well, come on in." His mother gestured for the Police Chief to follow her.

Danny wanted to ask why Mr. Gray was stopping by for a visit, but a honk outside caught his attention. He peeked out the still opened door to see a car waiting outside. "That's Sam," he called to his parents. "We're heading off to that concert I told you about."

"All right," his mother called back. "Have fun. Don't stay out too late! Oh, and be safe!"

Danny rolled his eyes. "I promise we'll be safe." He closed the door behind him then trotted down the walkway to where his friends waited for him. He climbed into the backseat of the car. "Are you both ready for the concert?" He grinned as he leaned back and relaxed.

"I've got my earplugs ready," Sam announced as she drove away from his house. "I'm not going to listen to this crappy music."

Danny opened his mouth then shook his head. Getting into an argument with Sam about music was pointless. So what if she didn't like Ember's music? In the long run, that didn't matter. The whole reason they were going to the concert was for the chance to talk with Ember and ask about what happened when she mysteriously disappeared. Hopefully, he would be able to give Elle some good news the next time he spoke to her. He rubbed at his left ear, which still hurt with some mild ringing as it hadn't completely healed yet.

"You're just saying it's crappy because everyone in the A List likes it," Tucker argued then he turned around in the passenger's seat to face Danny. "How are you doing?" He frowned, concerning shining in his green eyes. "That was pretty crazy last night. Poindexter _shot_ Kwan?"

"From what Dash said, Poindexter was aiming for him but Kwan pushed him out of the way to take the bullet," Danny explained, though he would prefer not the talk about the whole shooting at the Nasty Burger. He would love to just put the whole thing out of his mind and forget it ever happened, but he knew that would never happen. It would remain in the back of his mind, just like Jazz being killed and Mr. Technus' robot being vaporized and the incident in his parents' machine, even when he tried to keep his mind focused on everything other than those events.

"That's so crazy," Tucker mumbled with a shake of his head, his expression saying he couldn't believe it actually happened.

Danny raked a hand through his hair. "Yeah," he breathed out. "He probably had revenge thoughts like that a lot, but I think some ghosts were encouraging him to actually go through with it."

"That's kind of scary," Sam said with a grimace.

"I don't think they can influence people unless they're already susceptible to being pushed into doing something," Danny explained. "Poindexter had some pretty mean looking ghosts around him. But not all of these blob ghosts, whatever they really are, are bad. There were some around Kwan, like - I don't know." He shrugged, his brow creasing. "Protecting him, almost? I don't know how much these blob ghosts can do, but one of them seemed like would bite your hand off if you tried to do anything to further hurt Kwan."

"I'm not sure whether to think that's a good thing or be a little freaked out by blobby ghosts loitering around to protect people," Tucker said as he frowned. "Are there any ghosts around us right now?"

Danny shifted his eyes and stared at his friends. Then he shook his head, letting his eyes revert back to normal. "Nope. No ghosts."

Tucker released a sigh of relief. "Good. Because that would be kind of creepy. I mean, I know I can't see them, but _knowing_ they're there would freak me out."

Sam shook her head. "What would it matter? If they're not doing any harm to you."

"So you would be okay knowing there are little ghosts floating around your head?" Tucker asked, lifting an eyebrow at her. "Potentially whispering things into your ear?"

"Forget I even mentioned anything," Danny said with a weak laugh, regretting that he brought up the ghosts.

"The news report about the shooting mentioned something about Phantom being able to turn invisible." Sam arched a curious eyebrow as she glanced through the rear view mirror at him. "They said you turned invisible and sneaked up on Poindexter, which is how you were able to subdue him."

"No way! You can turn invisible now?" Tucker gawked at him.

"Oh yeah! I couldn't believe it." Danny's eyes widened, surprised he had almost forgotten about it. "I was thinking invisibility would be really helpful, and then I was invisible!"

"I guess it's like before, when you could phase those robbers through the vault door," Sam said. "With the right motivation and focus, you can activate new abilities."

"Yeah, maybe," Danny agreed. "Hey, is this the place?" He moved to press up against the window and peer out. They arrived at an old warehouse that looked like it might actually collapse if someone sneezed by it. But several other cars were parked in the area, and people were crowding at the doors of the warehouse. It didn't seem like the kind of place one would hold a concert. But maybe that was the point? After all, Sam had to go through Paulina to learn how to get tickets. But it brought a question to Danny's mind: Why all the secrecy? Why all the hoops to jump through just for a concert?

"I can't believe we're going to this thing," Sam muttered as she parked the car. They climbed out and headed toward the entrance of the warehouse.

"If you really don't want to come, you can just sit in the car," Tucker suggested then stumbled when Sam shoved him.

"I bought the tickets." Sam folded her arms with a scowl. "I'm not wasting money on an unused ticket."

They walked up to the front door of the warehouse and showed the man at the door their tickets. He looked them over with a critical eye then handed them back their ticket stubs. They entered the warehouse with the rest of the crowd. Inside, it looked much different than the outside. With strobe lights flashing above them, they could have stepped into a brand new club on its grand opening night. Even though the tickets had seating numbers on them, it seemed more like a mosh pit, forcing them to push their way closer to the stage.

"I can't believe I wasted so much money on those tickets," Sam grumbled, elbowing someone that how pushed her. "They said the tickets were great seats. They forgot to mention it was basically a free for all in here."

"You didn't have to come," Danny pointed out. "I would have paid you for the ticket." He glanced around, hoping they wouldn't have the misfortune of running into anyone from the A List. Though, as far as he knew, Kwan was still at the hospital. He frowned at that memory. It wasn't fair that Kwan got shot. Even if he could understand some of what Poindexter felt, Danny didn't believe anyone in the A List deserved to be shot or killed.

"Danny!" A body suddenly latched onto him from behind, arms wrapping tightly around his throat, and Danny stumbled a step forward with a grunt.

"Hey, Elle," Danny greeted. Then he did a double take, jerking around when Elle released him. "Wait. What are you doing here?"

"So this is Elle?" Tucker asked with a grin until Sam smacked him on the arm.

"Hi, Danny's friends." Elle smiled with a small wave. "And what?" She raised an eyebrow at Danny. "You thought you were the only one with ways to get tickets to an underground concert? Please." She rolled her eyes.

"Like Danny could have gotten these tickets on his own," Sam scoffed with a snort.

"Hey!" Danny frowned at Sam.

"Oh, come on. You know it's true."

Danny shook his head then turned his attention back to Elle. "What are you doing here though?"

"Why wouldn't I be here?" Elle's brow creased, and she frowned at him. "I've been worried about Ember this whole time, ever since she randomly disappeared. And you think I'm not going to come down here to hear for myself what Ember has to say? You think I don't want to talk to her myself? To see her with my own eyes to know it's really her and that she's okay?"

Danny lifted his hands up, eyes widening as Elle's rant continued. "Whoa!" He laughed awkwardly. "Okay. I get it." He sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. He guessed he needed to remember that he didn't have to put everyone's problems on his own shoulders. Elle was still looking for Ember too before Danny called her about the concert.

"Good! Then let's go talk to her." Elle hooked her arm around Danny's, ready to drag him off through the crowd.

"What? Now?" Danny gawked at her. "But they aren't going to let us backstage to talk to her." Did this place even have a backstage area? When he looked toward the stage, he spotted a door off to the side with a big, burly man standing like a guard with his arms folded and wearing a bright yellow jacket.

"Well, yeah. I got backstage passes." Elle held them up to show him.

"What?" Tucker gasped. "We're going to get to meet Ember? Sweet!"

"Ugh," Sam groaned.

Elle glanced over to them then winced. "Oh, uh, well," she looked up to Danny, "I only got one for you. I didn't know you would be bringing friends. Heck, I wasn't even sure that you would show up. I got the extra just in case."

Tucker's excitement deflated. "What?" He frowned. "But - Does it have to be Danny that goes with you?" A hint of hope sparked in his eyes.

When Elle frowned and looked to him for help, Danny sighed internally. "We only came here tonight because I've been helping Elle look for Ember. So it makes more sense for me to go with Elle to meet her."

"Come on, Tuck," Sam said, slapping a hand down on his shoulder. "Maybe we can at least witness the A List having some embarrassing moments." She pulled Tucker off into the crowd.

"Uh, sorry about that," Danny said to Elle.

With a shake of her head, Elle led the way toward the guarded door to the backstage area. "It's fine. Uh, I'm sorry I made things awkward with your friends."

Danny shrugged. "I don't think Tucker's even heard any of Ember's music yet. I think he just wanted to be able to brag about meeting her. Everyone in the A List really likes her, so he probably thinks if he tells them he actually got to meet her, they'll be jealous and want to ask him a bunch of questions about his meeting with Ember."

They stepped up to the guard, and Elle showed him their backstage passes. The man checked them over then stepped aside, opening the door for them. The backstage area had a much different appearance than the stage area. Cables and pipes were visible, running along the ceiling. The walls weren't finished, allowing them to see the wood frame and the insulation. They walked along a hall with a few roadies hanging around chatting or running checks on equipment and other roadie things. When they reached a door with a star on it and Ember's name written under it, they stopped. Elle stared at the door, chewing on her lower lip with her gaze fixed nervously upon her friend's name. Then she took a deep breath and knocked up the door.

"I told you-" The door flew open with the singer, apparently, ready to give someone working the concert a tongue lashing, but she halted when her eyes landed upon the shorter woman. "Elle!" Ember yanked the door open wider then pulled Elle into a tight hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I found out about the concert," Elle said when the singer pulled back. "So I got backstage passes so I could see you. You just," she frowned with worry in her blue eyes, "vanished from school, and I had no idea what happened to you."

Ember winced, regret flickering through her expression. "Oh, Elle! I'm sorry! I didn't even think about if anyone would worry about me. I got this contract to do a record and some concerts. And well," she gestured to their surroundings, "as you can see, things are definitely looking up for me."

Elle nodded. "Yeah, I can definitely see that. It's really great that you're finally getting what you always dreamed of."

Ember smiled. "I hope you've been keeping up practicing guitar and those voice lesson tricks I taught you." She looked satisfied when Elle piped up that she had. Then Ember's gaze caught Danny. "So who's this dipstick?" She folded her arms as she leaned her shoulder against the doorframe, her hip jutting out just slightly.

"Oh! Ember, this is Danny," Elle introduced. "When you went off to start your amazing career, he was pretty much the only person who cared enough to help me search for you."

Ember's vibrant green eyes flickered over Danny, like she was sizing him up. "I guess you're all right for a dipstick." Then she snapped her head back toward Elle. "Danny, eh? Wait. You mean the genius tutor you hired to help you?" She glanced back at Danny with a new sort of gleam in her eyes and subtle curl of her mouth.

"I wouldn't say genius," Danny mumbled, embarrassment burning across his cheeks.

"Modest too." Ember smirked a little wider.

"Well, I just," Elle shrugged, "I wanted to come and see that you were all right."

"I'm sorry I made you worry." Ember frowned.

"Hey," one of the roadies said as he approached them, and Ember nodded in response.

"Ah, that's my cue for going on stage," Ember explain to them.

"Well, then we shouldn't get in your way. I'm really glad all of this is happening for you. I can't wait to watch the concert." Elle smiled brightly.

"Thanks, kiddo." Ember ruffled Elle's ebony locks. "Catch you later, dipstick." With a grin, she tossed them a wave before she followed the roadie toward the entrance onto the stage to begin her concert.

"Well, I guess there you have it," Danny said once they were alone.

Elle nodded, but for a moment, she was silent. "Let's go watch the concert." She grabbed hold of his hand then led Danny toward the door to exit the backstage area.


	39. Chapter 39

"Sorry I kind of ditched you at the concert last night," Danny said, holding his phone to his right ear. Apparently having a gun fired close to his ear didn't heal quickly. The ringing had finally gone away that morning, but he had a difficult time trying to listen to the concert and enjoy it. The loud music made the ringing worse, and he was forced to make up some excuse about maybe eating some bad tacos that weren't settling too well with his stomach so he could sneak out of the warehouse where it much quieter.

"Hey, that's okay," Elle said. "I wouldn't want you to have majorly embarrassed yourself there." She chuckled, and Danny had the bad feeling she was imagining said embarrassing moment.

"Well, still," Danny winced at the image popping into his own head, even though the whole story about bad tacos was a lie, "I just wanted to apologize."

"I guess," Elle huffed a dramatic sigh, "I can forgive you." She was teasing him, and Danny rolled his eyes. "Besides, I'm a big girl. You don't have to worry about me taking care of myself. But I hope your friends didn't mind having to leave the concert early."

"Well, one was more than happy to leave." Danny dropped his gaze to watch as Cujo sniffed around a tree. "Ember's music just wasn't her kind of music. But Tucker seemed to be enjoying himself when I found him."

"At least one of them was enjoying themselves. I know Ember's music isn't for everyone, but I like it."

"I'm just glad you don't have to worry about her anymore." Finding Ember crossed off one of the notes pinned up on his corkboard. Danny had even struck off Ember's disappearance as related to Jazz's murder. He frowned, knowing he was no closer to finding the one responsible for his sister's death.

As he walked Cujo through the park, his depression weighed down on him. So far, he hadn't met the hooded man in the park like they planned when they took Cujo to the veterinarian. Maybe the man _was_ just trying to be polite and didn't actually want to visit with Cujo. Why was he even getting so frustrated by the hooded man's lack of appearance? The man had a job, most likely, and he could simply be busy on weekends. Or they could even just have terrible luck at meeting each other in the park.

"You still there, Danny?"

"Huh? What?" Danny blinked as Elle's voice pierced through his thoughts.

"I'll take that as you were distracted." Elle sounded maybe a touch annoyed.

"Ah, sorry." Danny rubbed a hand over his face. "I just have some things on my mind. What were you saying?"

"I was just saying that I have to get off now. Time for a wonderfully warm dinner with my dad." Elle heaved a sigh. "Anyway, I should also focus on my homework, and talking to you is distracting when you're not here telling me how to figure out all the answers to this stuff."

"Do you need me to stop by later for tutoring?" Danny winced, hoping she would say no. After skipping last night to go to the concert, he thought he shouldn't skip another night of patrolling. Luckily, he had already finished up all his homework for school tomorrow, so he could patrol without worrying about forgetting to finish something.

"No, I should be all right. Maybe. I mean, I've got some time before this stuff is due, but you know me. If I don't get started on it now, I definitely won't be able to get it finished by the time it needs to be turned in."

Danny nodded along as she spoke. "Well, if you need help with anything right away, don't hesitate to give me a call."

"Even if it's, like, three in the morning?" Elle asked with a touch of teasing in her voice.

"Maybe not at _any_ time," Danny amended with a chuckle. "Especially if you want me to come over to help you."

Elle laughed. "All right. Well, I better let you go now. Carmina is giving me her stink eye about being late for dinner."

Danny winced. "Oh yeah, you don't want Carmina angry with you. I'll talk to you later."

"You have yet to see her _really_ angry. Bye, Danny!"

From the way she said, Danny hoped he never experienced Carmina being truly angry with him. Once their goodbyes were said, he hung up his phone and stuffed it into his pocket. "Well, Cujo," he said, staring down at the puppy, "looks like our mystery friend in the hood won't be showing up again this weekend." Cujo gave a little whine. "Yeah, I'm disappointed to. But it's time to head home now anyway."

His parents had warmed up to Cujo since Danny brought him home. He caught his father playing with Cujo sometimes, or simply sitting with the puppy giving him belly rubs and ear scratches while Danny was doing his homework. His mother had always worried that a dog would be too rowdy and create too much of a mess, or chew up something important, but even she said her misgivings might have been a little unwarranted. Cujo had behaved like a perfect little angel, and so far the only thing he showed interest in chewing on was the little knitted doll the hooded man had given him. Cujo, however, did not enjoy things like the medicine to keep fleas away or Danny trying to keep his teeth clean and healthy.

When they got home, Danny let Cujo off his leash, and the puppy bounded down the hall and into the kitchen. After he put the leash away on the hook by the front door, he followed after the puppy. His parents had already started on dinner, his mother seasoning the chicken breasts while his father boiled some potatoes.

"Dinner should be ready in a little while," his mother said as Danny got out the dog food to feed Cujo.

"Anything I can do to help?" Danny poured some of the food into Cujo's bowl, and the puppy happily munched on his dinner.

"You can get the table set," his mother answered.

With a bob of his head, Danny walked over to the cabinet and got down the plates. He laid them out on the table then paused when he realized he had grabbed four plates out of habit. He frowned as he returned the extra plate to the cabinet. When he went to grab the silverware, he glanced back to his parents. "Why did Valerie's dad stop by yesterday?" He was so distracted by the concert and finding out Ember was okay that he almost forgot about Mr. Gray coming by just before he left with his friends.

"Oh, he just wanted to ask us some things about ghosts," his father replied. "With a masked vigilante running around with the abilities to turn intangible and invisible, according to reports, he thinks it might be worth looking into ways to stop someone with ghost like abilities."

Danny froze, the color draining from his face. Luckily, his parents were too focused on dinner to notice. "Uh, and were you able to help him?"

"All of the weapons we've created are still only experimental," his mother explained. "I mean, without a ghost to really test them on, we can't know for sure that they'll work."

"In theory, they should," his father added.

"But I don't think it's wise to put experimental weapons in the hands of police officers untrained in how to use them." His mother shook her head. "We've only really tested them in the lab, in a stable condition. In the field where a million things could go wrong? I wouldn't want any accidents to happen. Someone could get seriously hurt. We could be sued for damages. It's just not a good idea no matter how you look at it."

"I think Damon was just asking because he was being pressured from that Walker guy," his father said, not sounding too pleased to mention Officer Walker's name.

"Ah," Danny mumbled in response. He wasn't sure how to feel. The way Lance Thunder and Officer Walker kept painting Phantom up as a villain to be captured like a common criminal frustrated him. But Mr. Gray seemed more lenient about allowing Phantom to continue with his vigilante activities.

Once the table was set and dinner was ready, the family sat down to eat. Cujo, having finished his dinner, trotted over to the table and flopped down by Danny's chair. His parents asked him about the concert and school, and Danny was happy for the change of topics. When dinner was done, Danny washed the dishes.

"We're heading down to the lab," his father said as he and his wife headed toward the door leading to the basement. "We have some projects to tinker with." Then he muttered quietly, "I hate working on a deadline."

"You have a good night," his mother said. "And be sure all your homework is done."

"I will." Danny smiled to his parents as he scrubbed a plate clean. "Don't work yourself too hard down there. Remember. Breaks are good."

"We'll remember to take breaks." His mother closed the door behind them, leaving only the sound of the running water to fill the silence of the kitchen.

Danny quickly finished up the dishes and dried off his hands. Then he headed up to his room with Cujo running to follow him. His parents would probably question him if they knew he went out nearly every night. Before taking up the name of Phantom, Danny didn't spend this many nights out with his friends, so his parents would wonder why the sudden change. That was his excuse, he reasoned to himself, for saying nothing about going out tonight. He could sneak back in later without his parents noticing. Invisibility would make it easy to do so, as long as his parents weren't testing any ghost detection inventions at the time.

After he pulled on his costume and got ready to go out, Danny gave Cujo a quick scratch behind the ears as the puppy rested on his bed. He headed back downstairs then quietly slipped out of the house, being careful that the door didn't squeak or make too much noise when he closed it. He took off at a brisk pace, hurrying off to the downtown area. Whoever Spike and Gregor worked for, though, seemed to have gone quiet recently because he hadn't encountered anything that might relate to them ever since he caught Gregor at Dalv Pharmaceuticals.

As he walked the streets, keeping an eye out for any criminal activity, Danny's mind turned back to recent events. He was glad the whole thing with Mr. Technus going crazy with revenge was over, but he still worried about what happened to the teacher. Was he still alive somewhere? Or did Mr. Masters' plan destroy him completely? But all was silent, and Danny hadn't seen any evidence of Mr. Technus making a reappearance anywhere. Maybe the robotics teacher was biding his time, laying low until Mr. Masters let his guard down to attack again. Danny hoped not, because he still felt conflicted about the whole thing. He didn't think he wanted to get dragged into their problems if Mr. Technus _did_ attack again, but he also couldn't simply sit back knowing someone was in trouble.

Danny spotted some people out with several bags and rolls of wrapping paper. A couple people were lugging large pine trees down the street. Lights twinkled from the windows of various apartments he passed. It struck him then that Christmas was just around the corner. Next week his school would get off for their winter break. He rubbed at his forehead, wondering how he could have forgotten about Christmas. Not a whole lot of time had passed since Jazz's murder, and Danny's mind had focused mostly on the thought of tracking down her killer.

His parents hadn't even started with their usual bickering about whether or not Santa was real. The argument always drove him crazy, even making him hate the holiday because the fight between his parents always ruined everything. Now he sort of missed it. Their fight would at least make the season feel a little more normal after Jazz's death. Danny sighed heavily to himself, his breath leaving him in a puff of white.

Then Danny felt a tingle of cold washing down the back of his neck, like someone dropped an ice cube down the back of his shirt. He glanced around, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. In fact, he wasn't even near the next facility they thought might be hit by the burglars. Mostly, he only saw apartment buildings along the street. He walked around until the sense of dread grew stronger. It was like playing that game of hot and cold, except he was looking for the colder rather than the hotter. After a glance around the area, he slipped into the building.

Danny crept up the stairs, following the cold sense to the seventh floor of the building. He shivered as the feeling that something bad was about to happen pinched at the back of his head. Checking around the hall, he found a door that wasn't locked. He didn't like the idea of entering someone's home, but when he looked into the room, it was empty. It had no furniture or any signs that someone had lived there recently. He changed into his costume and transformed. Afterward, he stored his bag in the closet of the apartment. His body tingled, and he watched as he slowly vanished from sight. His mouth stretched into a wide smile. Turning invisible was definitely going to come in handy.

Wasting no time, Danny phased through the wall of the apartment. He was close to whatever set off his ghost sense. His heart beat a touch faster as he drew nearer, all the air around him growing colder. When he entered another apartment, he spotted a man lying on a table pushed up against the wall under a window. He quietly approached the man, who seemed entirely focused on something out the window. To Danny's surprise, the man dressed in a similar attire, except his costume was mostly white like Danny's costume was before he transformed into his ghost form.

"Come on," the man muttered, holding a sniper's rifle with his eye fixed on the scope. The man's finger lay on the trigger, probably itching to pull it and fire upon some poor soul. "Just come out in the open already. I have an itch on the bottom of my foot I'm dying to scratch."

Danny crept even closer until he stood right next to the table where the man lay. Who was the man targeting? Why did he want to kill this person? Danny shook his head. He couldn't worry about the who and the why. This man was about to murder someone, and Danny couldn't stand back and watch it happen. He grabbed hold of the rifle then extended his intangibility to it. He ripped the rifle from the man's hands, delighting in a moment of success. Then he found himself lying flat on his back, his chest aching as he wheezed out a breath. The rifle clattered on the wooden floorboards.

"I'm flattered that you're copying my look. Sort of." The other costumed man sat down on top of Danny, and he seemed to grin behind his mask. "But I really don't appreciate you messing with my job."

Danny snorted at the comment. "I stole from you? Don't make me laugh." His ribs still ached from the man kicking him after he accidentally lost his concentration and dropped his invisibility and intangibility. He had never even seen this costumed criminal before. How could he have copied this man's costume if this was the first time they met?

"I'll admit," the man said, ignoring Danny's comment, "that little trick of sneaking up on me has got me curious. How did you do that?"

"Why don't I give you a demonstration?"

The man sat up with a gasp of surprise when Danny vanished from sight. While the man was distracted, Danny rolled out from under him and onto his feet. The man glanced around, but even with Danny right next to him, he couldn't see the costumed hero.

"All right." The man released a low chuckle. "I'll admit that's pretty awesome. But I still have a job to do." He stretched out an arm to grab the rifle, but Danny acted quicker, sweeping out his leg and kicking the rifle across the room. "Okay. That was cute before, but now it's getting a little annoying."

"Sorry, but I can't allow you to kill someone," Danny told him.

"Well, I don't get paid unless I put a bullet in this guy, and I really like to get paid." The man glanced around the room, searching for the hero interfering with his job. "Ah, there you are!"

Danny lowered his gaze and cringed when he saw his invisibility had dropped away. "Maybe you should take up a new job then," he suggested as they both remained crouching and within arm's reach of each other. Danny thought he should probably be worried about being so close to a man who seconds ago was about shoot someone, but he felt no hurry to move away from the man. The ghost sense had faded away, which usually meant the threat was over, but his gaze wandered over to where the rifle rested against the wall. If Danny didn't do something, the man would simply try again to kill whomever his target was. "You know, maybe a job that doesn't involve killing?"

The man snorted. "Why would I want to do that? Killing is part of the fun!"

Danny's face twisted with disgust. How could the man think killing was fun? "Then I'm going to have to stand in your way."

"You're cute, kid. But I wouldn't want to break you."

Danny's eye twitched, and he glared at the man. "Go ahead and try, _old man_ ," he shot back, refusing to be thought of as weak.

"Oh, it's on now!" The man cracked his knuckles. "I'm not gonna hold anything back, so I hope you're ready."

"Whenever you are." Danny smirked behind his mask. "But you should be careful not break a hip or something."

"You're gonna regret that!" The man launched himself at Danny, who caught the fist aimed at his head. They both went down in a tangle of limbs, wrestling each other to get the upper hand in the fight.


	40. Chapter 40

"Wow!" Tucker's eyes grew wide when Danny walked up to where his friends waited at their lockers. "You look terrible!"

"Gee, thanks," Danny muttered as he turned the combination lock to open his locker. When he got up that morning, he still had a pretty nasty bruise on the left side of his head, and his shoulder felt like it had nearly been wrenched from its socket. His parents were _not_ happy with him when he came down for breakfast and they saw the bruising. He had a hard time coming up with a decent excuse for what happened. In the end, he told them he went out to meet someone from school about homework and in his rush he ran into the side of a building. He didn't think his parents believed him, but they didn't get the opportunity to press him about it since he said he was running late and had to leave for school.

"What happened?" Sam asked, wincing at the sight of Danny's bruise.

"I had a run in with my evil twin." Danny stuffed his books for class into his bag then closed his locker.

"What?" demanded both his friends, shock frozen upon their faces.

Danny had to smile at their amusing expressions. "There was a guy last night who was dressed similar to me, except inverse the colors, like me when I'm not Phantom," he explained in a quiet voice. He glanced around quickly, but the other students in the hall were too busy talking to each other to care about three "losers" and what they had to say. "We fought. It hurt _a lot_. I'm not sure there was a clear winner or loser, but I stopped him from killing someone, so I'll consider that a win for me."

"Until he tries to kill the person some other night," Tucker pointed out, and Danny shot a glare at him. "What? I'm just saying. If this guy tried to kill someone once, he'll probably try again."

Danny heaved a sigh, hanging his head. "I don't even want to think about having to track this guy down to stop him. Again." He raked a hand through his hair. He didn't want to add another thing to his plate, even if he did just cross off having to find Ember from his list of things to worry about. But now that Tucker brought it up, he realized it was true. He would have to find the man and make sure he didn't kill anyone. "It would probably be a lot easier to find him if I knew who he was trying to kill."

"Well, where were you when you found him?" Tucker asked as they walked down the hall. "And what was his method of killing this person?"

Danny scratched his head, trying to remember exactly where he met the man. "He was using a sniper rifle when I found him. He had it pointed across the street as he waited for the person to come out for an open shot."

"So if we can figure out who was in the other building, you would be able to keep an eye on that person," Sam said.

"Hey! I was going to say that!" Tucker frowned, disappointed he didn't get to explain his plan. "I can do a search and see what I come up with, but you'll have to tell me where you were first."

Danny thought hard about where he was when he felt the ghost sense. "I can't remember exactly where I was. But when I go on patrol, I'll keep an eye out for the exact building and tell you when I figure it out." Until then, he was stuck having to watch out for any sign of the costumed criminal making another attempt on someone's life. His shoulders slumped as he sighed. "Well, I'll see you at lunch."

Danny waved to his friends and headed to his first class. Mr. Green glared down his nose when Danny entered the classroom and walked to his desk. As the late bell rang, Danny slid into his seat. When he glanced around, he found the classroom oddly empty. Only four other students showed up for class. Dash wasn't one of those other four, his seat next to Danny empty, which was highly unusual since Danny couldn't recall a time when Dash ever missed school. Mr. Green's gaze passed back and forth over the rows of mostly empty desks.

"What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Green demanded. "Where is the rest of the class?"

Danny glanced at the other students, but they seemed as oblivious as he was about the abnormally high amount of absent students. Mr. Green released an angry noise, his face turning a shade of purplish red Danny had never seen on a person. He marked off the names of all the students who were absent in his attendance book.

"I guess those students will simply be unprepared for tomorrow's test that I've just decided to give." Mr. Green's mouth pursed thin as he lifted his gaze to the few students present. "I hope you all take excellent notes because I will be grading the test extra hard and you have no excuses not to do well on it." He turned to the board and began writing.

Danny groaned to himself as he got out his notebook then flipped it open to a clean page. Of course, Mr. Green wouldn't go easy on them because most of the class was absent. Danny glanced to the desk next to him. He shouldn't have any reason to feel guilty about Dash failing a test, but Danny couldn't help considering the idea of stopping by Dash's house after school to tell him and give him a copy of his notes so the jock wouldn't be completely caught off guard. Jazz wouldn't be happy if he let Dash flounder with his grades when he had the ability to help. With a sigh, he hung his head and wrote a reminder to copy his notes later for Dash.

After his morning classes, Danny walked through the halls back to his locker. He scratched his head over the strangeness of the day. In two of his classes, almost all the students showed up, but in the other two classes, many, if not most, of the students were absent. He wondered if it was like that in other classes too, or if those two were just the odd ones. When Danny passed him in the hall, Lancer muttered to himself about absent students. Even Ms. Spectra seemed to be in a foul mood.

"I can't believe them!"

Danny halted, his attention catching on Valerie's exclamation. He glanced over to where the A List usually gathered at their lockers, but only Valerie and Kwan stood there. Whatever they were talking about wasn't any of his business, but Danny walked over to them.

"Uh," he said and swallowed nervously when one pair of glaring eyes and another pair looking curious turned in his direction. "I, well, I heard about what happened at the Nasty Burger." He stuffed his hands into the pocket of his jeans, hoping he appeared casual while inside he felt like running in case Valerie decided to bite his head off about even talking to them. "I just, well, I wanted to see how you were doing." He would have gone to the hospital, but he thought it might seem funny if he did.

Kwan winced, pain washing momentarily through his expression. "It looked worse than it was. Poindexter really wasn't a good shot, so he didn't hit any vital spots."

"You still had to sit in the hospital all weekend," Valerie said, frowning with concern at her friend. "And none of the others even stopped by to check on you."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're doing better," Danny said.

Kwan bobbed his head in a nod. "It's a good thing football season is over." He laughed, maybe a bit too forcibly. "Though I guess it wouldn't matter if I had to sit out. The team could win without me."

"Don't say that!" Valerie smacked him lightly on the arm, careful not to do anything that might cause more harm to her friend.

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "You're the one who always blocks off the opposing team so Dash can make the throw. Without you, Dash would get tackled every time, and we'd never win a game."

"Listen to the lose-" Valerie caught herself with a twitch of her eye. "He's right." She turned on Kwan. "You need to stop shrugging off your awesomeness like it doesn't matter. You are great. And you need to remember that."

Kwan flushed, and for a moment, Danny thought the jock would deny it, but instead, Kwan shook his head. "Hey," he tapped a fist to Danny's shoulder, "you should consider trying out for the team next year."

Danny spluttered while Valerie gawked in surprise. "I probably wouldn't be very good," he said when he could finally make full words leave his mouth. "I didn't exactly inherit my dad's physique." He certainly couldn't use his Phantom enhanced strength without people thinking something odd was happening.

"Yeah, but you're fast," Kwan pointed out as he grinned. "We could use a fast runner to dodge past the other teams and get to the end zone."

"Ah." Danny rubbed at the back of his neck. "I guess I could think about it." But he already had a full plate keeping him busy without thinking about something like football practices and games getting in the way. "Uh, but I didn't see Dash in class today." He frowned at the two A Listers. "Do you know why he wouldn't come to class? He usually doesn't skip."

Valerie huffed as she folded her arms. "Apparently, they all skipped and went to this Ember thing. They didn't even tell us until we were already at school." She released a frustrated noise. "We missed the concert on Saturday because Kwan was still in the hospital. Now this? By tomorrow, we'll be totally cut out of the A List."

"Hey, it's not that bad," Kwan said then winced when Valerie shot a glare at him. "We were already late on the whole Ember thing anyway. Since we had to leave Star's party early."

"I still can't believe they would skip out though," Valerie said as she folded her arms and leaned back against the lockers. "Star would never miss an important math test. I mean, sure, she's like a whole semester ahead, but she always shows up. And Paulina loves that baking class she takes with Dash. She never wants to miss out on whatever they going to be cooking that day."

"So how come the two of you didn't skip out once they told you where they were?" Danny glanced curiously between the two of them.

"My dad would kill me if I did something like that."

"I'm not really up for it," Kwan admitted, his hand absently moving to cover the spot on his side where he was shot.

Danny nodded. If there was a mob of people at this Ember thing and they were all pushing each other and acting rowdy, it could aggravate Kwan's injury. So it made sense that Kwan wouldn't want to place himself in that situation. When his phone vibrated against his hip, Danny winced and dug it out of his pocket.

"Ah, I should probably answer that," Danny said.

"Whatever." Valerie waved him off. "Come on, Kwan. We're already late enough to lunch."

Danny watched them walk off down the hall, and he cringed when he realized his friends were waiting on him. As he walked toward their lockers, he opened the text message.

[ _hope u didn't miss me 2 much_.]

[ _had trouble. couldn't contact u sooner_.]

[ _ur not answering. R u mad?_ ]

Danny shook his head with a slight smile when he read the texts from D. A weight lifted from him, relief washing through him to know the man wasn't lying in some ditch somewhere dying.

[ _Not mad. just at school_.]

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Danny greeted his friends as he reached his locker. He shoved his phone back into his pocket before a grouchy teacher saw him with it and decided to confiscate it. He wouldn't put it past Mr. Green to do so, though Lancer might be a little more lenient as it wasn't during class.

"So were some of your classes weirdly empty too?" Tucker asked with a furrow in his brow.

Danny stuffed a book into his locker then closed the door. "Yeah, apparently a lot of them, the A List, went to some Ember thing going on right now. But that's odd, isn't it?" He frowned at his friends. "I don't think any of them have ever skipped school for anything other than being sick. Why would they skip now? I mean, from what I heard, Ember's music was pretty good. But I wouldn't skip school just to go to some random showing." For one, his sister would have had his head if he skipped school. His parents would ground him for another. And lastly, he would have to face the disappointment from Lancer.

"Her music was definitely not worth skipping school over," Sam said, leaning against the lockers. "I'm so glad I brought those earplugs."

"I liked her music," Tucker grumbled.

"Maybe I should have asked Kwan where this Ember thing was being held," Danny thought out loud.

"You aren't actually thinking of skipping school to go to it, are you?" Sam gaped at him, with slight disgust on her face.

"Of course I'm not going to skip school." Danny rolled his eyes. "But I was thinking of checking the place out after school. Well, assuming it's still going on. I know it might be nothing, but-"

"Wait." Tucker held up a hand to stop his friend. "Are you thinking there's something going on here related to your sister's death?"

"Maybe not related." Danny frowned, turning his gaze away from the inquiry in his friend's eyes. "But she _was_ given that card telling her to go to the place where Jazz died. It's also the place where Mr. Technus first appeared in his weird electrical form, or whatever that was. _And_ Mr. Masters was holding a container of ectoplasm there. Maybe I'm just looking for connections that aren't really there. But why would Ember be holding some sort performance, or whatever, right now during school hours? That doesn't seem like the best time to be holding a promotional thing."

"We'll go with you!" Tucker eagerly offered.

"You can go." Sam snorted. "I'm not wasting any more time on Ember. Her music isn't my thing."

"Guess it's just you and me then." Danny bumped Tucker lightly on the shoulder with his fist as he grinned. "I'll see if I can get the information from Kwan later. Let's go get lunch." He tossed his bag over his uninjured shoulder and turned down the hall. "I'm hungry, and I have some notes to copy for Dash."

"Copying notes for Dash?" Sam lifted an eyebrow as they walked toward the cafeteria. "Please tell me you're not trying to suck up to the A List to be popular again."

"No." Danny shook his head. "This is entirely because of Jazz. She maybe not have liked Dash romantically, but she definitely didn't want to see him fail. Mr. Green said he was going to do a surprise pop quiz tomorrow on today's lesson. If she was still alive," he cleared the hitch in his throat, "she would smack me over the head for even considering not helping Dash out by making sure he at least has some notes to study off to prepare for tomorrow."

"She probably would also be pissed at Dash for missing school just to go to some musician's promotional thing," Sam reminded.

"Okay. Yeah, Dash might be at fault because he made the choice to skip," Danny agreed. "But let's say I was the one missing school. Like," he thought for a moment, "something Phantom related came up and I had to skip out. You two would get any homework or stuff for me so I don't miss anything, right?"

"Yeah, but you're our friend. Of course we'd do anything to help you," Tucker said.

"Thanks." Danny smiled, glad he could always count on his friends. "I know Dash isn't my friend so I shouldn't feel any obligation to help him, but I do. Jazz would be mad at Dash for skipping, but she wouldn't sabotage him by keeping notes from him when there's a test coming up. She cared too much about helping people to do that. I know I can't fill Jazz's shoes, but I can offer a little help here and there when possible."

Sam frowned then sighed. "Just don't overdo it and forget about keeping up with your own work."

Danny threw his arms over his friends' shoulders, hugging them closer. "I think I've got a handle on things, and I know the two of you will kick me if I get off track." His friends agreed with a laugh as they reached the cafeteria.


	41. Chapter 41

"Do you think we'll be able to meet Ember?" Tucker asked, nearly bouncing as he walked.

"I don't know," Danny mumbled distractedly as he glanced at the slip of paper with an address on it.

He ran into Kwan before the end of the school day and asked if the jock knew where the Ember appearance was supposed to be. The jock was happy to pass on the address without question. Then deciding Kwan had a better chance of running into Dash first, Danny handed over the notes he made to Kwan so Dash would have them.

He lifted his gaze to the building they were approaching and frowned. It didn't look much like the kind of place where a singer would normally make an appearance or meet and greet fans, in that from the outside, the music store looked like it might be abandoned. But should he have expected any differently after Ember's concert was in a renovated warehouse? Ember, apparently, wasn't one for being a traditional rock star.

"The thing might have ended hours ago."

Tucker sighed in disappointment. "Can't there be one thing that goes right in my life?" He hung his head, and Danny reached over to pat his friend on the shoulder.

"Maybe you'll get lucky," Danny offered, though he wasn't even sure they would find anything here if the appearance took place earlier in the day. "I probably should have talked to Ember about those men who approached her before." But he thought it better if he didn't get into any of it with Elle there.

"Yeah!" Tucker agreed with enthusiasm. "She'll totally still be around. Hey, do you think she'll take a picture with me? That would make the perfect background for my phone."

"Uh, maybe." Danny's brow furrowed slightly as he stared at his friend. "Tuck, don't you think, just maybe, you're sounding a tad obsessed with Ember?"

"What?" Tucker turned a confused look onto Danny. "No! You were at the concert. Are you going to tell me Ember's music isn't good?"

"I never said it wasn't good. I liked it. What I could hear anyway." Danny tugged at his left ear. "I was still healing up from that gun being fired so closely to my ear." He reached out and pulled open the door. "But maybe you should at least tone down your Ember love around Sam. It's not her favorite type of music, and you'd probably just be picking a fight, even if you don't mean to."

Tucker groaned as he followed Danny into the small store. "You know, sometimes, I just don't get Sam. Why does she always have to dislike things just because it's popular?"

"I don't know that that's always true." Danny frowned, though it did seem to happen a lot with Sam writing off anything liked by the A List. "I'm pretty sure sometimes, she genuinely just doesn't like something. Then again," he tilted his head in thought, "some of it could have to do with her parents. I'm pretty sure she's inclined to automatically hate anything she believes her parents would like."

"Her parents would _hate_ Ember's music."

"Which could inspire Sam to tolerate Ember's music if only to play it around her parents to annoy them." Danny grinned at that sneaky thought. "But I wouldn't count on her falling in love with Ember's music just because of that."

"I'll consider tolerating it over outright hating it a win." Tucker bobbed his head. "Uh, so where is this thing? Are we really too late for it?" Despite the lights being on, the music store looked virtually deserted. The rows of shelves were empty, and the walls had large rectangular spots where posters must have hung and showed slight discoloration compared to the rest of the walls. There were also ripped corners in some places still taped up from careless removal of the posters.

"This is the place," Danny said with a frown. "According to what Kwan said. But maybe it is over."

"Wait!" Tucker grabbed his arm as Danny turned back toward the door. "Do you hear that?" They both listened quietly for a few moments. Then Tucker's hand fell away from Danny's arm. He walked toward the door at the back of the room, the only exit other than the front entrance they used.

"Tucker?" Danny frowned, following his friend. Though he had listened for whatever Tucker thought he heard, Danny heard only silence. Worry built up in him when his friend didn't respond. He darted before Tucker, catching him by the shoulders. Tucker tried to keep walking, and Danny used some of his superior strength to stop him, being careful not use so much that he accidentally hurt his friend. "Hey! Tuck! What's up with you?"

"Ember," Tucker murmured like he was in a trance. His eyes lost a bit of their usual gleam, looking distant, or maybe vacant was the best word to use.

Danny shook his friend, hoping to snap him out of whatever trance he was in, but Tucker only mumbled the singer's name again. "Hey! Tucker!" Worry filled him when even shouting didn't snap his friend out of the weird trance. What could he do? Danny fought to think of something, half wishing Sam had come with them. She probably could have thought of something to frighten Tucker from whatever had a hold on him. Frighten? Maybe that could work. "Broccoli!" he shouted into Tucker's ear but got no response. "Uh, cucumber! Avocado!" He growled with frustration when none of it worked. "Hey, Tuck! I hear they're going to start having an ultra-recyclo vegetarian menu only at school. No more meat. Ever!"

"What?" Tucker exclaimed with panic in his green eyes. He grabbed hold of Danny's shoulders and shook him. "They can't! I need my meat!"

Danny laughed with relief, hugging his friend. "Oh, I'm so glad that worked!"

"Wait. What do you mean?" Tucker blinked in confusion.

"Dude, you were totally in some weird trance. What happened?"

"I - I don't know." Tucker rubbed at the back of his neck. "I thought I heard music. Then everything just sort of blanked out."

"Okay. I'm not trying to say something evil is going on, but," Danny trailed off with a growing sense of dread.

"Sam never hears about this." Tucker gave his friend a stern stare. "She'll never let me hear the end of it if Ember ends up being some sort of villain."

"Right," Danny said with a hint of doubt in his voice. "Since we don't know exactly what she's doing, I'm going to do some investigating as Phantom. There are no active cameras anywhere in here, right?"

Tucker pulled out his trusty phone and played with it for a few minutes. "Nope. All cameras were taken down weeks ago when the place closed. And according to the blueprints, there's a small backroom where you can change without being seen and there are stairs leading to a basement level there too." He pocketed his phone. "Let's get going!"

"No." Danny placed a hand on his friend's shoulder to stop him. "You stay up here. I'm just going to check things out for right now."

"What?" Tucker frowned. "What about Team Phantom?"

Danny winced. He definitely didn't want to imply he didn't want Tucker coming because he already seemed to fall under whatever spell Ember was working. "And you're an important part of Team Phantom! Who else could make my awesome costume? And you do all the techy stuff." He squeezed his friend's shoulder. "But most importantly, you're my friend. I don't want someone to see you with Phantom and think you know who he really is. What if Walker saw us together? He would probably drag you in for an interrogation and refuse to let you go until he breaks you and gets the information he wants." The thought terrified Danny to his core. "I can't let that happen to you, or to Sam. That's why it's so important that you are never seen talking with Phantom."

"Yeah," Tucker mumbled unhappily, "I guess you're right."

Danny nodded as he patted Tucker's shoulder. "Wait here for me." He ducked into the small backroom of the store. It was cramped with stacks of boxes either to be picked up later or completely abandoned. After changing into his costume and transforming, Danny crept down the stairs to the basement level. As he got closer to the foot of the stairs, he heard the soft strumming of a guitar as someone sang. Her voice sounded quite pleasant, if a bit melancholy.

Danny turned invisible then stepped into the basement room. The missing students milled around the room, sometimes bumping into each other or walls without giving notice to either. They had the same vacant look in their eyes Tucker had moments ago before Danny snapped him out of the trance. He found the whole sight unnerving, and he shuddered at the way the students mumbled Ember's name. As much as he didn't want to believe Ember had crossed over to the dark side, what he saw made it hard to think any other way. He hated the idea of having to tell Elle anything about he was seeing.

When the music stopped suddenly, Danny stiffened, freezing several steps into the room. Had his invisibility dropped? Did Ember see him? What was he going to do? He didn't want to hurt Ember. She was Elle's friend! He glanced around the room. But he also couldn't allow her to keep the other students of Casper High captive in some sort of trance.

"Nothing's better than hearing fans saying your name," Ember said, grinning as she sat in a cushy beanbag chair that had certainly seen better days with duct tape holding it together. She had her legs crossed, and her guitar rested in her lap.

It looked more like Ember could simply being chilling with some friends, hardly the picture of an evil villain. But Danny already learned appearances could be deceiving after watching Mr. Masters vaporize Mr. Technus' robot. He wondered if he could do some snooping the next time he was over at Elle's house. Then he shook his head. Now was not the time to think about that. He needed to focus on the problem currently at hand.

"Buzz off already." Ember waved her hand like she was shooing away a fly that was bothering her. "You can tell your boss thanks for the help but I can handle myself from now on." The corner of her mouth curled in a cruel smirk. "What do I need with them when I can have a whole legion of fans devoted to cheering my name?" Her fingers plucked lightly at the guitar strings. "I'll just keep gaining more and more followers. If this power keeps getting stronger, I might just take over the entire world. I'll have everyone under my control. When I think like that, I don't really need your boss at all."

Danny slowly backed out of the room toward the stairs. _Okay_ , he thought as he quietly returned upstairs. _So Ember is apparently a villain with some crazy mind control ability. Nothing to worry about. I can handle that_. He wasn't entirely sure about that, but maybe if he tried to think positively, things would work out in the end. When he reached the top of the stairs, he found Tucker waiting for him in the music store's backroom. He turned visible again then chuckled when Tucker released a startled yelp and stumbled back, nearly falling onto his rear.

"So what's happening?" Tucker asked once he recovered.

"All the missing students are down there," Danny explained, retelling what he saw in the basement. "I didn't see who she was talking to though. I mean, she wasn't talking to any of the zombie fans and no one else was there."

"So what are you going to do?"

Danny shrugged helplessly. That was the question he was trying to answer ever since he saw what was happening in the basement. "I have to figure out how to break the mind control on the other students." The problem was he didn't know what Ember was using to control them. "I was able to snap you out of the trance, but I don't know if I can do that for an entire room of people. " He cracked a teasing grin and nudged Tucker in the ribs with an elbow. "Not everyone will panic at the mention of an ultra-recyclo vegetarian menu."

"The thought is just too terrifying," Tucker responded flatly. "So you'll take care of the crazy mind controlling siren, and I'll work on snapping everyone out of the trance and getting them out of there."

Danny shook his head. "Too many questions. Why were you there? Why weren't you affected? It's simpler if no one down there wakes up and knows you were here."

"So what am I supposed to do then?" Tucker demanded, his mouth curving downward.

Danny hesitated, trying to think of an answer. "Maybe you could call the cops."

"I thought you wanted to keep people from being to connect me to Phantom."

Danny glared, not appreciating the sarcastic tone his friend used. "Call from the landline then. I assume there's a phone somewhere around here you could use."

"Okay. But do you really want to risk Walker showing up?"

Danny cringed. It somehow slipped his mind that calling the police might bring Officer Walker right to him. Even after Mr. Masters' threat of a media spectacle if the officer tried to capture Phantom, Officer Walker wasn't giving up. "Try to get a hold of Valerie's dad then," he suggested. "He may not like what Phantom's doing, but he's not as vocal as Walker about vilifying Phantom. Between the two, I feel safer dealing with Valerie's dad."

Tucker nodded, though he didn't seem happy about the situation at all. "So what do _you_ plan on doing?"

"Uh, well," Danny mumbled, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I thought I'd just figure something out as I go along."

"Great plan."

"Do _you_ have a better idea?" Danny glared at his friend. "It's not like I have some sort of guide book on what to do in a situation like this. How exactly do I combat someone with mind controlling abilities?"

With a shrug, Tucker folded his arms. "You're the one with the super awesome special ghost powers."

Danny resisted the urge to growl in the back of his throat. He didn't have time to stand around and argue with his friend. He needed to be doing something about Ember and her control over the other Casper High students. "I'm going back down there," he told Tucker, trying to keep his tone calm and even. "If you can think of a decent plan, you're welcome to rub it in my face later." He turned and walked down the stairs, shifting to invisible as he went. Frustration and anger built up like a tight ball in his chest. Why was Tucker acting like that? He didn't understand, but he couldn't let it distract him when he needed to focus on dealing with Ember.

Back in the basement, everything was virtually the same as when he left. The students were still bumping around the room like mindless zombies. Ember sat on her beanbag chair like it was a throne. Danny crept invisibly toward her, praying by the time he confronted her he would have a plan. Ember plucked at the strings of her guitar, humming along to whatever song she was creating. Danny inched closer to where she sat, glad for invisibility and light steps that went unheard. Ember had no idea he was even there.

Danny almost stood right before her, and that was when things went wrong. His feet stopped of their own accord, and his vision darkened around the edges. Ember's voice truly was beautiful. Listening to it felt like he was being wrapped in warmth, and all his troubles melted away like they had never existed at all. He could listen to her sing for forever. Maybe that was what he would do. Everything was simpler if he just stayed here and listened to her sing.

"Who are you?"

The shout of surprise, and maybe a little rage, snapped Danny out of his daze. He jerked upright, more alert than he was a moment ago. Ember's bright green eyes stared right at him. Not in that seeing through him and looking at something else way, but right at him like she could see him. With a gulp, it slowly dawned on Danny that in the brief moment he had let himself succumb to her mind control ability, he lost his control on his invisibility. He also had no plan of action, so he would have to improvise now that she had found him out.

"Ember-" Danny cringed, clapping his hands over his ears when the singer strummed out a loud chord that sounded something akin to nails being dragged down a chalkboard.

"I don't know how you found me," Ember said coldly as she stood from her beanbag throne with her purple guitar in her hands. "But I know just how to deal with a dipstick like you." She adjusted one of the knobs on her guitar then played a slow, soft melody. Danny tensed, very muscle in him growing taut as his ghost sense seemed to be working overtime. He felt like someone had dunked him into a ice water bath. "My loyal fans, get him!" Ember pointed at him, and Danny gulped.

The zombie students came to life then. When he turned his head, the first thing Danny saw was Dash barreling toward him. His reaction time was too slow, and the jock slammed into him, tackling him to the ground with an angry growl. More students tried to get in on the action, all of them grabbing at him like they wanted to tear him apart limb by limb. Danny turned intangible then crawled away from the pile of rabid fans.

"Ember!" Danny shouted once he got to his feet. He jumped back a step to dodge another fan that tried to attack him. "Stop this! Will you just-" He ducked a fist that flew at his face, and though he didn't want to hurt any of the zombie fans, he knocked the man off his feet. This hardly felt like a fair fight when the fans were basically trying to kill him and he was trying to avoid doing any serious injury to them. "Will you hear me out?"

"You're really annoying, you know." Ember's mouth pursed as she glared at Danny. "You come into my hideout."

Danny grunted when someone managed to grab a hold of him, shoving him from the back as their arms wrapped around him. He couldn't figure out what to say to Ember if he had to keep his mind focused on not being torn apart by the singer's mind controlled fans.

"So now I'll have to find another great place to hide out," Ember continued, ignoring Danny's struggles to avoid her fans, "until-" She paused to laugh. "Oh, you almost got me there." The amused smile quickly fell into a displeased frowned. "I'm not going to spoil my plans by rambling on about them to you." She fitted her fingers onto the strings on the neck of her guitar. "Sorry, dipstick, but this is where I leave you."

"Wait!" Danny shouted, but he was too late. Ember played her guitar. Danny, and all her zombie fans, hit the floor as the deafening wave of sound struck. He might have screamed, curling up into a ball on the ground as he covered his ears. He couldn't hear anything beyond the high pitched ringing.

A foot shoved him over onto his back. Danny squinted, and though Ember was speaking, he couldn't read what her lips were saying. Then Ember turned away with her guitar strapped across her back. Danny struggled to his feet to chase after her, but he immediately regretted the action. The room spun, and the floor seemed to roll beneath his feet. His legs refused to support his weight. He kept falling over himself in his attempt to reach the stairs back to the ground level of the music store. As odd as it seemed, he actually felt worse getting hit with the sound wave attack than he had when Mr. Technus' robot nearly broke his ribs. Somehow he made it to the top of the stairs, but before Danny could think of doing anything else, Tucker grabbed hold of him, dragging him somewhere. Danny didn't bother to put up a fight, too dizzy even consider trying to confront Ember again at the moment.


	42. Chapter 42

Danny resisted the urge to smirk when the paper was slapped down on top of his desk. He couldn't help feeling a little proud when he saw the big red ninety-seven percent at the top of the test paper. Mr. Green grumbled like a grouch as he continued to return the graded pop quiz to the rest of the class. The teacher obviously wasn't happy with certain students doing well on a quiz he expected many to fail. When the bell rang, Danny stuffed his test paper into his bag and stood to follow the other students out of the classroom. He stepped out the door when a hand caught his arm.

"Dash!" Danny gulped when he turned to find the jock had stopped him.

Dash rubbed at the back his neck, his gaze refusing to even look at Danny. "You didn't have to give me those notes."

Danny's eyebrows lifted a touch, surprised to see some embarrassment upon the jock's face. "I just-" He shrugged. "I figured Jazz would want you to keep trying to do well in school. I thought the notes would help."

Dash's blue eyes lowered, and he shifted slightly. "I appreciate it."

Danny glanced around the hall, awkwardness creeping up through him. "Uh, so, how did you do on the quiz?"

Dash reached behind him and brought out the test paper he had crammed into his back pocket. "Not as bad as I would have thought." He held up the paper to show it read eighty-nine percent. "I didn't expect your notes to be so good."

Danny hunched up a shoulder in a small shrug. "Maybe I paid extra good attention because I knew if my notes were bad you'd beat me up."

"Can't really argue with that." Dash shoved his test paper into his back pocket again.

Danny stared at the jock, still finding the whole thing strange. His memory after Ember walked out was fuzzy at best. Tucker said it was a miracle they got out of the abandoned music store before the police showed up since Danny could barely take a step without falling over. Ember's sound attack had messed him up fairly badly, and he was still a little queasy the next morning. He was grateful for the healing factor that came with his ghost powers.

The students who were at the music store under Ember's mind control were brought to the police station and questioned. None of them seemed to have any memories about anything they did under Ember's influence. They couldn't answer why they were at the music store or if that had been part of some grand scheme by Ember. Danny only knew that information because Officer Walker had spoken to Lance Thunder about the whole thing on the news. Unsurprisingly, Officer Walker wanted to put a ban on all of Ember's music and merchandise, stating all the students present at the music store with a blank in their memories were all fans of Ember.

"So, uh, you and the others are okay?" Danny asked, only slightly awkwardly, to break the small silence that fell over them. "You really don't remember anything?"

"Ugh!" Dash groaned, raking a hand through his blond hair. "It's bad enough I have Kwan hounding me about what happened. I know he's just worried, but I seriously don't remember anything." Frustration was in his eyes, with maybe a touch of anger.

"Ah, well, you know." Danny shrugged. "It's only natural for him to be worried when his best friend skips school, and later he learns you were at some place with no memories of how you ended up there."

"Yeah, well, I'm fine now, so he doesn't need to worry like he always does." Dash turned away and headed down the hall toward his next class.

Danny was tempted to shout that Kwan only worried because he cared but squashed down the urge. Dash had to know that already, and Danny knew what it was like having friends worried about him and pestering him even after he said he was fine. With a shake of his head, he turned to walk down the hall to his next class before he was late. He wished he could say it felt like a victory since all the students were back at school, and they didn't seem to be suffering any sort of ill effects from the mind control.

But Ember was still out there. If she planned on using her ability to put everyone under her control, then Danny needed to find her and stop her soon. But how was he going to find her? How could he stop her if she could render him useless with one painful strum of her guitar? And that was if the mind control didn't take a hold of him. If he hadn't revealed himself by dropping his invisibility, he would be a zombie fan like all the other students.

The problem of Ember's mind control picked at his brain through the rest of his classes. Danny rubbed at his face, struggling hard not to groan in frustration. He stuffed his book back into his bag then stood from his desk. After next Tuesday, he would have about two weeks without having to worry about schoolwork being in the way of hunting down clues and stopping criminals. He almost reached the door when he heard a cough behind him.

"Ah, before you go," Lancer said, and Danny turned around with a slight frown. "I just wanted to ask how you were doing because you looked a bit stressed today."

"Oh." A surge of a panic jolted through him. In the future, Danny would have to be more careful about displaying such emotions. He didn't want his teachers noticing and worrying about him. "Ah, well," he shrugged awkwardly, "just lots of homework and having to find gifts for people." He managed a laugh. "I mean, I always struggle a bit with what to get Jazz." He froze, a lump forming in his throat. His gaze lowered then turned away. "Well, you know how stressful the holidays can be."

Lancer nodded, some understanding passing through his expression even as he gave a small frown. He rested a hand on Danny's shoulder and waited for his student to look up again. "I know this can be a hard time, especially after the recent loss, but just remember to take care of yourself. It's not good to let stress build up. If you're ever feeling too overwhelmed, take a moment to step back from it all. You're just one young man. You shouldn't have to feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders."

"Right." Danny gave a small bob of his head. "I'll keep that in mind." Somehow, Lancer never seemed pushy about offering help and advice, and he didn't give off creepy vibes the way Ms. Spectra did. Danny still couldn't explain why his ghost sense had gone off around her, but he really didn't want to add another crazy teacher to his list of problems. "Well, I should probably get going. This homework, unfortunately, doesn't do itself."

Lancer cracked a smile. "I wouldn't be teaching you much if all your homework did itself."

Danny laughed then after offering his teacher a goodbye, he left the classroom and headed for his locker. He managed to make it there, ducking behind a group of jocks who were bigger than he to avoid being seen by Ms. Spectra. The counselor always seemed to be roaming the halls on the lookout for any students she thought needed her guidance. He caught Valerie behaving the same way and had to smile a little. At least, he wasn't alone in avoiding the counselor. When he got to his locker, he quickly grabbed what he needed then joined his friends on the way to Sam's car.

When they got to the warehouse, they greeted the employee who gave them a hearty grin and offered them some home baked cookies. "You kids sure work hard, but it's not good to work on an empty stomach," he told them before he got back to work making sure all the inventory at the warehouse was in order. Danny nibbled on his cookie as he did some of his homework before it was time to patrol.

"I think I've got it!" Tucker announced excitedly, drawing the attention of his friends. He held up something in his hand, and Danny squinted at it as the item was rather small.

"What is it?" Sam frowned, her brow knitting in that fashion she had when trying to figure out an answer on her own but was able to decipher it.

"Well, when we went to spy on Ember, I had that moment-"

"When you fell under Ember's mind control." Danny nodded, recalling the moment his friend meant.

"Yeah, well, while you went down to check on things in the basement, I thought maybe Ember's ability related to her music," Tucker explained. "I mean, I thought I heard her playing before I got whammied."

Danny winced. "She was playing a song when I started to get pulled under her control too." When Tucker said it, it made a lot of sense that Ember's ability related to her music. It would make it much easier for Ember to cast a wide net of mind control by using music since many people would hear it at once.

"So I thought maybe if you had a way to block out Ember's music, you could fight her without being affected by her mind control."

"I don't really want to fight her though." Danny frowned as he leaned back against the shelf of boxes. "Elle really looks up to Ember. And I don't think Ember is really a bad person. She's just mixed up in something bad. If I could talk to her, maybe I could make her stop with all this mind control stuff."

"You have ghost powers." Sam tapped her pen against her notebook. "Then Mr. Technus turns up with electric and technopathic abilities. Now we have Ember with musical mind controlling powers. Do you think it's possible there's a link here?"

"But I got my powers from going into my parents' machine," Danny reminded. "So I wouldn't fit into any theory. Mr. Technus made it sound like Mr. Masters was involved somehow. But I don't see how Mr. Masters could have been involved in however Ember got her powers. And that's another reason I would really like to talk to Ember. If she can tell me anything about the people who gave her these powers, maybe I might be able to find out something. Maybe it might even have a connection to who killed Jazz." Danny knew it was too much to hope for, but he couldn't help holding out for just the tiniest bit of hope.

"Which is why I've been working on these babies," Tucker tossed one of his tiny inventions into the air and caught it, "since that whole thing at the music store. I can't guarantee one hundred percent that they'll work since I had to do everything with earplugs in to avoid having the music mind control me. But they _should_ filter out the frequency Ember's music uses to work her power. That way, you won't be going in deaf."

"Sweet!" Danny grinned, excitement buzzing through him. Then with a frown, he deflated slightly. "The problem is, now I have to find Ember. She's not going to be using that music store anymore as a hideout. I'll have to patrol around until I can find her again." He rubbed tiredly at his face. There was still the matter of the assassin he ran into earlier. He had no idea whom the man wanted to kill, but he hadn't run into the assassin again since that night. He felt sick at the idea that the assassin succeeded at his job because Danny wasn't able to find him again.

"I've been trying to get any information from people I know," Sam said then released a sigh, "but so far, it seems she's gone underground. Perhaps she's waiting until things blow over a bit before she resurfaces."

"You make her sound like some kind of mastermind villain." Danny frowned at the idea. He didn't know Ember well at all, had only met her twice now, but from the way Elle talked about her, Danny imagined Ember wasn't exactly looking to become some evil villain. Her whole dream, according to Elle, was to become famous and have people hear and enjoy her music.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Maybe she didn't plan for it to be like this. But mind controlling her fans kind of comes off seeming like the mastermind villain type stuff."

Danny shook his head as he checked the time. "Well, time for patrolling." He held out his hand toward Tucker. "It'll be a good time to test that out if I somehow ended up running into Ember." When his friend tossed them to him, Danny fitted the little earpieces snugly into his ears. He almost expected to be unable to hear anything, but he could still hear the sound of Sam's pen tapping on her notebook and his friends talking, telling him to be safe on his patrol.

Danny shouldered his bag and left his friends to their studying. When he stepped outside again, he shivered. The nights were getting colder, and the weatherman reported possible snow falling over the next few days. As he walked the streets, Danny wondered if it was possible for Tucker to make a winter version of his costume, because he wouldn't be able to focus on fighting criminals if he was freezing the entire time.

After an hour of wandering the streets, passing people in a hurry or lugging around too many bags for one person to carry or couples huddling close for warmth, the familiar chill washed through him, drawing out a small gasp from him. Danny ducked into a small shop he was passing. Few people were inside, and the employee behind the counter barely lifted her head when Danny headed toward the back. Thankfully, the shop had a one person restroom. He checked for any hidden cameras before he changed to become Phantom. The chill remained persistent, a prickling at the back of his neck.

As much as he hoped to run into Ember again, Danny doubted she was reason his ghost sense was going off. Would it be that assassin from before? Danny phased through the wall of the shop into a back alley with his bag slung over his shoulder, not wanting to leave it behind in case someone else went into the restroom. He left it instead tucked behind a dumpster where hopefully no one would find it.

As he reached the entrance of the alley, an explosion rocked the world, blowing out the window of a shop across the street. The people closest to the shop screamed and backed quickly away. One woman was on the ground with a man looking after her, but other than a few scratches, she didn't seem too badly hurt. Danny darted across the street and into the shop. His mask didn't fully protect him from the smoke now filling the shop, and he held an arm over his nose and mouth. He squinted around but didn't see anyone who might have gotten hurt in the explosion. But who set it off? And why? The shop was a small family owned place that sold outdoors equipment, which didn't seem like the kind of place someone would target for any reason he could think of.

When he felt his ghost sense going crazy, he froze, every muscle in him growing tense. Something was coming! Then he moved, twisting away from where he stood, but it was a second too late. Danny bit down on his lip, forcing back a scream when something tore through his side. He stumbled over a fallen rack, and he landed his back with a grunt. Where did that even come from? It happened so quickly he barely heard the projectile whizzing through the air toward him. His heart hammered in his chest, and he tried to squash down that feeling of panic. The side of his costume was torn, showing off a thin strip of pale greenish flesh with his bright ectoplasm oozing slowly from the wound.

Wait. Was that ticking he heard? Danny scrambled to his feet and barely managed to turned intangible before a second, smaller explosion went off. It wasn't just a normal explosion though. Bright lights flashed all around him, blinding him with the sensation of a thousand tiny needles stabbing at his eyeballs.

_Click_.

Cold dread filled him, freezing his entire body like he had plummeted into a tub of icy water. Every instinct in his body screamed at him to run because something horrible was about to happen. But he couldn't seem to make his body move even an inch. Something had clicked under his foot when he took a step forward.

"I'd be careful if I were you." The voice came over a speaker from somewhere in the shop. "If you lift your foot now," the person chuckled, "BOOM!"

_What do I do?_ Danny's eyes widened with panic and fear. _Wait!_ He nearly smacked himself as he relaxed somewhat. All he had to do was turn intangible like before, and he wouldn't be hurt by the explosion. He concentrated on turning intangible. But before he could do it, something sharp pierced through the boot of his costume. With a scream, Danny stumbled back into a wall. He could feel the ectoplasm pooling within his boot.

"Oops," the person said in amusement. "I guess that wasn't a bomb switch after all. Ah, but you're perfectly lined up for another little surprise now."

Danny ground his teeth. Whoever was playing games with him, he wanted to find them and give them a good punch to the face. His hand balled into a tight fist. But until he figured out where the person was hiding, he had no good outlet for his anger. A creaking pulled him out of his rage. His head snapped up. Was the ceiling getting closer? Then something slammed into his side, dragging him out of the way as a part of the ceiling crashed down, sending up new clouds of dust and smoke.


	43. Chapter 43

His head ached. His side stung. His foot screamed in pain. And with a large body on top of him, Danny had a hard time breathing. He supposed being crushed under a body was better than having the ceiling come down on top of him. For one, he was at least still conscious. His vision remained blurry from the flash bomb, and dust clouded the air. He shifted under the body as he tried to work up enough mental power to focus on turning intangible.

"He has eyes all around this place," the man whispered into his ear, and Danny froze, his eyes growing wide behind his mask when he recognized the man's voice.

"You!" Danny growled back, narrowing his eyes. "What are you doing-" A hand slapped over his mouth, silencing his demand.

"Let's not do that right now." The man sat up, his weight easing off Danny so he could breathe freely again. "In case you missed it, you seem to have a crazy person after you."

Danny smacked the hand away from him. "Thanks for the save. But I don't need the help of a killer." He pushed himself up and gasped, wrapping an arm around his waist. The injury on his side stung badly, and his foot felt no better. He needed to get out of this place before blood loss made him pass out, a terrifying thought at the moment. He was in the presence of an assassin who he didn't beat in their previous fight and some madman seemed bent on killing him with explosives.

An angry growl and incoherent sputtering came over the speaker. "What is this?"

The assassin laughed, a loud booming sound, and Danny inched back away from him, fearing the man may have cracked. "That's our cue to make our escape."

"Escape?" Danny demanded. "Hey!" He yelped when the assassin scooped him up into his arms before standing. "I'm not going to run away!" He squirmed, pushing away from the man, but his unwanted rescuer held him tight as he weaved through the shop toward an exit. "I can't let that guy go free!"

The man sighed. They were outside now, and Danny admitted the clean air was nice after spending too long in the shop where the air was clogged with dust and smoke. "You're in no condition to fight anyone right now. And-" He held a finger of the hand under Danny's legs. Right on cue, sirens blared, growing louder as they came closer. "I don't think you want to hang around when the police show up."

Danny gritted his teeth, but the man _was_ right. On both points, unfortunately. Danny wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up his ghost form. A fight hardly seemed like the best idea when he was already bleeding from two injuries. Reluctantly, he relaxed in the man's hold. Walking on an injured foot probably wouldn't be a wise idea.

"Fine," he grumbled. "But I need to grab something from across the street."

"Uh." The man seemed to frown behind his mask, or at least, that was the impression Danny got. "You do realize the police are going to be here quite soon. We won't exactly go unnoticed."

Danny grinned as he slapped a hand against the man's shoulder. "Just leave that to me." He hoped he could extend his power of invisibility to the man. He hadn't tried it yet, but if he could make other people intangible, he assumed the same was possible for his invisibility. He concentrated, focusing his thoughts on making them both invisible.

"Whoa!" The man jumped in surprise. "All right. I'll admit. That's pretty awesome."

"You haven't seen anything yet," Danny replied, puffing out his chest with pride, though the gesture went unnoticed while they were invisible. "Okay. So just head to the alley across the street." He almost pointed to it before remembering the man wouldn't see it. "And remember, just because they can't _see_ us doesn't mean they can't _hear_ us."

"Right. Silence from here on out until we're clear of the crowd."

"You _have_ a mute button?" Danny snorted, hardly believing it.

"Ha," the man responded dryly. "The little hero thinks he has a sense of humor. Cute."

Danny would have shot a retort back if the man hadn't chosen that exact moment to run and dive through the crowd milling around the street to see what happened to the shop. After that, Danny had to focus on keeping them both invisible and shifting them to intangible whenever he feared the man would plow right into people. But the assassin was surprisingly nimble on his feet. While Danny tensed in his arms, the man easily wove through the crowd, practically dancing to avoid even brushing against someone.

Danny tossed a glance back to the shop. A few police cars had pulled up and some of the officers were acting as crowd control. An ambulance had arrived, and Danny was relieved to see the paramedics checking on anyone who had suffered an injury after the first explosion. Firefighters ran into the shop to put out any fires, though Danny couldn't recall seeing any, and check for anyone injured inside the shop. So far, he saw no evidence of whomever set off the bomb, the one who mocked him over the speaker.

"Now what?" the assassin whispered quietly when they reached the alley.

For a moment, Danny completely forgot he was even with the assassin, and he wasn't sure he liked that fact. "My stuff is just up ahead. I can get it myself."

"You sure?" Though sounding doubtful, the assassin set him on his feet.

Danny bit down on his lip, forcing back a whimper when he put even a little weight on his injured foot. After one tentative step forward, he collapsed to the ground, losing control over his invisibility. By some miracle, he managed to maintain his ghost form despite the shock of agony racing up his leg. He would never make it home like this.

"That's what I thought." The assassin stood behind him, and when he glanced over his shoulder, Danny saw the man had folded his arms over his broad chest.

Grinding his teeth, Danny snatched his bag from where he hid it. "Thank you," he said tightly, unable to keep his voice neutral, "but I can take care of myself now. You can go do," he waved a hand in one direction, "whatever." He snapped his head around and glared at the assassin. "As long as it doesn't involve killing." He held a finger toward the man.

The assassin shook his head. "Sorry, little Phantom." He lifted Danny up before he could yelp in protest. "But with that injury, you aren't going to be able to get very far on your own. At least let me take you someplace where we can see to those injuries. I have a safe house near here."

"Before you get any thoughts into your head," Danny poked a finger into the man's chest, "you didn't beat me in that fight. It was a draw."

"Mmhm," the man agreed, though it sounded more like an adult humoring a child, which didn't improve Danny's mood. "Just work that invisibility so we can make it to the safe house unnoticed."

"I really don't like you," Danny grumbled, but at least concentrating on making them invisible took his mind off the fact that he was being held bridal style by an assassin. If he could walk without pain piercing through his leg every time he put weight on his foot, he wouldn't have allowed the man to pick him up the first time.

Danny paid little attention to their surroundings as the man carried him to his so-called safe house. How safe could it be if it belonged to an assassin? But maybe the question he should be asking was: Why was he trusting this man enough to go with him to this safe house? He could turn himself intangible so the man couldn't touch him, but he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. He was already feeling the exhaustion tugging at him because of how long he was using invisibility. He wouldn't be able to get anywhere fast until his foot healed, which was taking much too long.

"And we're here."

At the announcement, Danny jerked in the man's arms, suddenly aware he had drifted off in his thoughts. Somehow, he had kept them invisible during the walk. "Nice place," he mumbled when he glanced up at the building before them. He hadn't expected it to be an actual house. For some reason, he thought it would be some shady apartment or warehouse. Instead, it was a small two story house with white siding.

"I was thinking of putting in some flowers, but I think it's going to snow soon so it'll have to wait until it warms up again." The man walked up to the front door, and Danny turned them intangible without much thought. If anyone happened to peer out their window, it would look strange if the door opened on its own.

"You garden?" Danny held back a snort of a laugh as the assassin walked through the door and into the house. The inside was kept rather clean. From the front hall, he could see into the room off to the side. The nice, cozy sofa there looked inviting to Danny, who wanted to simply collapse on it and curl up to sleep until he was healed up again.

"Of course!" The man shuffled down the hall. "Man's gotta have a hobby, right? It's nice and calming. Like sewing. Made my costume myself."

Danny shook his head. He was learning details about this man he didn't want to know. It was easier to consider him a coldhearted killer if he wasn't imagining him digging around in a garden or sitting at a sewing machine. Both images were absolutely ridiculous in his head, and he resisted the urge to laugh.

"And this is the grand bathroom." The man kicked open the door to show a small half bathroom. Then he walked over and set Danny down upon the toilet. When he pulled back and lost any contact with Danny, the assassin became visible again. "Now let me take a look at your injuries." He crouched down at the sink and opened the cabinet under it.

Danny shook his head before remembering he was still invisible. With a deep exhale, he released his hold on his ability. "I can do it myself." He frowned when the man set down a large first aid kit before him.

"Oh." The man almost sounded disappointed. "Right." He stood and stepped out of the bathroom. "I'll be outside if you need anything."

Relief rushed through Danny once the door closed behind the assassin. He slumped on the toilet as he _finally_ reverted back to human. His body was exhausted and ached, and the injuries hurt even worse once he was sitting there as a human. He yanked down his mask and sucked in a greedy breath of fresh, clean air. He hadn't realized how suffocating the mask was until then. Gingerly, he peeled his suit down to the waist. The scratch along his side was coated in bright green, but it seemed like it had healed enough to stop bleeding. Grabbing a towel, he quickly wet it then wiped up the caked on ectoplasm. A scar remained, but it would fade soon.

"So," Danny said as he rubbed some disinfectant over the scar before bandaging it, "you never answered me. What were you doing there? Since, apparently, you weren't there to kill someone this time." He halted in the middle of tying off the bandage. "Or were you? What happened to the guy talking over the loud speaker? You didn't kill him, did you?"

"No, he's still alive," the assassin replied, and Danny sighed, pressing a hand to his chest. "I merely inserted a virus into his stuff so it would take out his cameras and disable his control over all his traps. Rather simple really, but it gave us the perfect opportunity to get away. I just had to be there to make sure you didn't die before the virus killed his surveillance."

Danny nodded as he slid down from the toilet with a fresh, wet towel. When he removed his boot, he bit down on his tongue to hold back a whimper. Then he had to resist the urge to vomit when he saw his foot. Ectoplasm was everywhere, but worse, he saw dark red mixing with the bright green. His foot was still bleeding.

"Wait!" Danny snapped his head up, his foot only partially cleaned when a thought hit him. "How did you even know about this guy in the first place?" He scrubbed away the rest of the blood, trying to squash down the queasy feeling whenever he glanced at the hole in the bottom of his foot. Thinking about how the muscles and tissues and bones and skin would have to knit back together as it healed didn't help anything.

"He wasn't exactly subtle about anything." The assassin chuckled like he had just shared a private joke. "He spent all his time prepping his little trap for you that he failed to notice he was being watched. I slipped in there earlier when he wasn't around and worked in a little backdoor for myself. Then I staked the place out, and once I saw him make his move, I gave his computer the virus."

Frowning, Danny wrapped bandages around his foot after he cleaned the injury. "But I still don't get how you even knew about this guy's plan. I thought you were an assassin."

"Mercenary, really."

"There's a different?" Danny cocked an eyebrow at the door.

"I do whatever the job pays me to do. It doesn't always involve killing. Most jobs do but not always."

"So, what? Did someone hire you to watch this guy or something?" Danny packed away the rest of the supplies and stowed the first aid kit back under the sink. Silence followed, and he glanced toward the door, wondering if the mercenary had grown bored with him and left.

"You're too reckless."

"What?" Danny snapped back as his brow creased.

"You want to be the hero. That's great. The world needs a hero. But that's also your weakness. A bomb goes off, and you immediately run in, without thinking, to be the hero and save people. You didn't even stop to consider it might be a trap. Hello!" The man rapped a fist against the door. "You have the ability to move unseen. You can pass through solid objects as if they weren't even there. You could have investigated the situation without him even knowing you were there. But instead, you rushed in there and nearly got yourself killed."

Danny shot to his feet, an argument on the tip of his tongue, but it was cut off by a whimper. He dropped back to the floor with his eyes screwed shut. Leaning back against the sink cabinet, he breathed in deeply through flared nostrils. He wouldn't be able to walk home just yet.

"And I was supposed to know some maniac was going to be targeting me?" Danny demanded, grinding his teeth.

The mercenary snorted a laugh. "You're the hero, aren't you? Start making a name for yourself, and you're bound to get the attention of someone who thinks they can put a nail in your coffin. I'm just saying, in the future, you should be more cautious. You won't be saving anyone if you die in the process."

Danny rubbed a hand over his face. He was getting advice from a killer? He shouldn't even be listening to someone who clearly had questionable morals. Yet it was hard to argue with the mercenary when what he said made sense. If he slipped in quietly, he could have avoided being stabbed in the foot and needing a killer to rescue him. He just _hated_ to hear it from the mercenary.

"Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you want. Got food in the fridge. Maybe we can have another good spar some other time." The man took a step away from the door.

"Wait!" The word leapt from his mouth before Danny even realized it. He fumbled, flustered, for a moment. "I think I should at least know the name of the person who rescued me. Or whatever name you want me to call you."

"Hm. Well, it seems the newspaper likes to call me Reaper. Some idiot thought it would be hilarious to reference the Headless Horseman. But you can just call me Dan."

Danny nearly choked but turned it into an awkward laugh. "Dan?"

"Yup! I don't have much need for a codename. The reporters always call me something stupid anyway. And I don't have anything to protect by keeping my identity secret." The mercenary chuckled. "And I think I can trust that you're too much the hero to use the information for any evil purposes. See you around, Phantom." His footsteps faded down the hall.

When it was silent, Danny bowed his head, his shoulders shaking slightly from suppressed laughter. Maybe he had cracked at some point during everything because nothing about what happened tonight was funny. But the laughter tried to bubble out of him anyway. He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. A madman wanted to toy with him like a cat playing with a mouse before finally eating it. Danny made a face at the analogy. Then he sighed. Madmen could wait until another night. Right now, he needed to figure out how to get home before curfew.


	44. Chapter 44

"Are you sure you're feeling all right, sweetie?" His mother frowned as she brushed his bangs back out of his face. Worry was etched into the lines of her face.

Danny nearly groaned at the question. Why did everyone have to constantly ask him that? He knew the reason though. His parents had seen him limping into the kitchen for breakfast. "Yeah, it's fine. I just," he shrugged, searching quickly for an excuse, "stubbed my toe this morning."

His father winced as he folded up the newspaper. "Yowch! That always hurts. And I should know. I stub my toe too many times in the lab." He lay the newspaper down on the table beside his breakfast. "They're doing that big lighting ceremony this weekend. Are you kids going to that this year?"

"Ah." Danny had forgotten all about the whole tree lighting ceremony their town did when it got close to Christmas. The mayor would come out and make some speech before selecting a child to flip the switch that would turn on the lights of the Christmas tree in the plaza outside of city hall. "Maybe. I'll have to see if Tuck and Sam are up for it this year." He picked up his plate and carried it over to the sink.

When the holiday season rolled around, Sam always got into an oddly festive mood, even if she was Jewish. Danny shook his head, thinking of how she became this entirely different person, who said holiday greetings to everyone they passed. Even her parents couldn't seem to put a damper on her cheery mood. It was strange yet also a little wonderful to see that side of his friend. Danny almost wished she showed that side more often because Sam looked more beautiful when she was smiling.

"Well, I'm off to school." Danny grabbed his bag from next to his chair at the table. He was lucky the cut he received on his side last night was shallow. It had already healed and faded by the time he woke up that morning, but the stab wound on his foot still ached something fierce if he put too much weight on it. _Maybe I should take a night off from patrol_ , he thought with some regret.

"Okay. Have a good day at school," his mother said as she cleaned his dirty dishes.

"Have a good day working in the lab." Danny tossed a wave over his shoulder before he left the kitchen and headed down the hall toward the front door. Each step was like having that spike driven into his foot again and again. Once he was outside, he focused on his foot, concentrating on turning only the part of his foot that was injured intangible. He wasn't sure if it would actually work, but maybe it wouldn't hurt as much if the injury wasn't solid.

By the time he reached school, Danny was exhausted with his effort. It sort of worked, but it drained him too much concentrating only on one portion of his body to turn intangible. He wouldn't be able to make it through school without passing out if he continued to use his power. He winced with each step he took down the hall toward his locker.

When he finally left the bathroom at the safe house last night, Danny searched the place but the mercenary - Dan - had already left. He wasn't sure why the fact disappointed him. The less time he spent with the mercenary the better. He glared at the floor, a queasy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. He owed Dan for saving him last night. He hated the idea that he owed a killer a "favor," especially if it resulted in lives being taken.

"What happened to you last night?" Sam asked, falling into step beside him. "You didn't call at all. And we heard there was this explosion." She frowned, concern shimmering in her violet eyes. "We thought maybe you got hurt."

Danny rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. He didn't want to tell his friends about Dan. The queasy feeling returned when he thought about how they might react to learning a mercenary had come to his rescue. "Just a little banged up," he told her, "but we should leave that until we have some more privacy." He glanced around the hall, worried someone might overhear their conversation and realize he was Phantom. "Uh, where's Tucker?" His brow knitted when he noticed his other friend wasn't there.

"I don't know. He kind of disappeared as soon as we reached school." Sam's mouth pursed in displeasure, like she didn't appreciate him ditching her. "But," her expression softened with worry, "are you sure you're okay? You keep making this pained face."

"Yeah, I just hurt my foot, but it's healing up." Danny stopped in front of his locker and opened it. Today already felt like it was going to be an extra long day. "I almost forgot with everything that's been happening, but my dad brought it up today. Are we going to hang out and watch them do the tree lighting this year?"

Sam blinked when Danny glanced her way. "Wow! I can't believe I forgot all about that." She scratched a hand through her hair. "I haven't even gotten presents for anyone yet. I guess we all got a bit caught up in things after-" She hesitated, dropping her gaze. "After Jazz and then you doing your thing." She leaned back against the lockers, folding her arms. "But it would feel weird to skip it. Besides, almost everyone goes. We could all keep an eye out in case something goes down."

"Don't jinx it!" Danny groaned, already imagining the madman coming after him during the ceremony or having to stop Dan from assassinating someone. He banged his head against the locker.

"Whoa! Someone looks horrible." Tucker strolled up to his friends with his eyebrows raised in a look of surprise. "What happened? Didn't get any sleep last night?"

Danny turned his head to his friend, keeping his forehead pressed to the cold metal of the locker. "Gee, thanks," he muttered. "You have no idea what my night was like."

Tucker frowned. "We heard about the explosion. Let me guess. You got to play hero and save the day."

Danny stood up straighter, feeling like Tucker had just sucker punched him in the gut with the sarcasm dripping from his voice. "What's with the attitude?"

"I don't know." Tucker glared, his eyes flashing with something completely unfamiliar to his friends. "You go out every night to play hero. But have you forgotten about Mr. Technus?"

"Tucker!" Sam shouted, putting herself between them.

But Danny pushed his way forward to stand before Tucker. "You think I've _forgotten_ about him?" He still had nightmares about what happened to Mr. Technus at the hands of Mr. Masters, and they still had no idea what exactly _had_ happened beyond the destruction of the robot.

"Well, you don't seem to be in any hurry to find out anything about what happened." Tucker shoved him, and Danny fell back a step, cringing when he put too much weight on his injured foot. "Your stupid hero Mr. Masters turned him into some technopath with a revenge obsession. You know it, but you won't do anything about it."

"Tucker, that's-"

"What do you want me to do?" Danny demanded, barely managing to keep his voice low enough not to draw attention to them. "I can't exactly go up to Mr. Masters and _ask_ him what he did. I already don't want anything to do with him, and I don't want to give him any hints he can put together to figure out who I am."

Tucker glared, his eyes taking on a strange glow. "What are you, stupid? You have ghost powers," he ground out, his teeth clenched tightly. "You could go in and spy on him and he wouldn't even see you because you can turn invisible."

Danny flinched. Tucker's words echoed Dan's too much, only serving to remind him that he acted recklessly. He had these powers, but he didn't think about how to use them smartly. If Jazz were in his place, Danny knew his sister would do things better. His fingers curled, and his hands squeezed into tight fists. Jazz should have been the hero. He was just making a mess out of everything.

"You don't deserve those power." Tucker shoved him in the shoulder, and Danny put up no resistance. "If I had those powers, I would have found out what happened to Mr. Technus already." He turned and stormed down the hall.

Sam watched him with a worried crease in her brow. "He didn't mean any of that," she told Danny hurriedly. "He's just - He just wishes he knew what happened to Mr. Technus. I'll go talk to him." She jogged down the hall after their friend.

Danny rubbed at his face with one hand. His chest had the same empty feeling, like a hole was growing inside him, that he got after Jazz died. He wasn't making any progress searching for her killer, and only more problems seemed to fall into his lap. He was rescued by a mercenary! Was he even cut out to be a hero?

"Wow. The three amigos aren't together?"

Danny dropped his hand and frowned at Star, who had an eyebrow raised like she was silently asking him what happened. She was back to wearing her usual clothing with no hint of Ember's mind control lingering, but that seemed true of all the students who had succumbed to Ember's power. "You look good today."

"Please," Star flicked a lock of blonde hair over her shoulder, "like I need to hear that from you." She shoved past him down the hall toward where the A Listers hung out.

Danny shook his head. He couldn't even say compliments to the A List without giving them more reasons to hate him. _Whatever_ , he thought as he turned to walk away from his locker. He had other important things to worry about than the A List. For example: What exactly was going on with Tucker? They had fought before, of course. Friends had different opinions sometimes, so it wasn't unusual for their differences to cause a fight. Sam and Tucker butted heads a lot over the whole vegetarian versus meat argument. Even his parents had their squabbles. Danny could understand why Tucker would be angry. His friend had cared a lot about Mr. Technus. But something struck him as odd about the whole thing.

"Mr. Fenton."

Danny jumped, the woman's voice jerking him out of his thoughts. With a gulp, he lifted his head to the school's counselor. "Ms. Spectra," he greeted with a weak smile. He would love for Dash to come storming down the hall right now looking for him just so he could avoid talking with the woman.

"You look troubled." Ms. Spectra frowned, but it didn't seem sincere at all to Danny. "Why don't you come to my office and talk about it?"

"Ah, no, I should really-"

"Nonsense!" Ms. Spectra placed her hands on his shoulders. "You'll feel much better once you've talked to someone about your problems." She ignored his protests as she directed him toward her office.

It felt like he was being walked to his death. The back of his neck tickled with a chilly sense of dread. Why did just being around this woman give him this vibe that something bad was about to happen? It couldn't be because he hated the idea of talking to the counselor. Right? If hating the idea of doing something could set off his ghost sense, then he would feel it every time he had to go to Mr. Green's class.

"Here we are," Ms. Spectra announced, pushing Danny through the open door of her office.

"Um, I don't think this is really necessary." Danny swallowed, desperately seeking some way to escape the counselor.

"Oh, don't be shy!" Ms. Spectra smiled brightly as she closed the door behind her. Danny felt like the door to his cage had just slammed shut, trapping him forever in this chilly office. "You know, it's quite unhealthy to keep all your feelings bottled up." Her expression looked concerned, but it didn't seem real, not in the same way Lancer always showed concern for his students. "I get it. You're young. You feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Every problem is life and death. But," she stepped over to him, resting her hand on his shoulder, "it's really not." Her hand squeezed a touch, but it wasn't comforting like when Lancer did it. It was painful, like her bright red nails were digging into him so he couldn't escape. "So why don't you tell me what's bothering you? Is it about your sister's death?"

Danny flinched. Maybe he did need to talk to someone about Jazz and his doubts and insecurities. Maybe it would help. But, he clenched a fist tightly, he didn't want it to be with this woman. She might be a professional, and she might be helping other students. But Danny didn't feel comfortable talking with her about anything.

"Um," he mumbled, turning his gaze away from her, "I appreciate that you want to help. But my sister always wanted me to do well in school, so for her sake, I want to focus on my studies. And class is about to start, so I should really get going before I'm late."

Ms. Spectra frowned, her green eyes narrowing just enough to leave Danny with an unsettling feeling. "Right. We wouldn't want your grades to suffer." She plastered another fake smile onto her face. "What if we arranged to meet after school hours? Then it wouldn't affect your classes."

Danny's mouth fell open, ready to reject the offer. But something made him hesitate. Ms. Spectra's gaze held his, and despite his efforts, he couldn't tear his eyes away from hers. Her hand on his shoulder seemed to grow heavier, her nails almost feeling like razors cutting into him. It was almost as if she was clawing the answer out of him. Saying yes to her was on the tip of his tongue, his mouth forming the word.

Then his ghost sense went off, like sharp icicles stabbing into the back of his head and waking him up. "I - I don't think I can," he finally managed to say, and he was nearly panting with the effort to speak his true mind. "I'll have homework to do after school. And there's getting ready for the holiday. It's just not really a good time." He shrugged off her hand then stepped around her. "Thanks for the offer, but I really need to get to class now."

Once he was out of the office, Danny jogged down the hall to his first class. His foot throbbed, but he ignored the pain. He didn't want to be anywhere near Ms. Spectra's office for a second longer if he could help it. He made it to class before the tardy bell and flopped into his seat.

"You look like hell, Fenton."

Danny shot a glare at Dash. If the jock only knew - Danny blinked, his attention distracted by something on the desk next to him. "What's that?" His brow knitted curiously as he pointed at the page of Dash's notebook.

"It's nothing!" Dash quickly hid what was on the paper, and a flush of color crept onto his cheeks.

"Oh, okay," Danny replied, not believing the jock for a second. He got a pretty good look at the notebook before Dash covered the page, but he wasn't sure what to think of the sketch depicting Phantom.

"Look," Dash said in a low tone, refusing to even glance at Danny. "If it wasn't for him, Kwan may not have survived Poindexter going crazy and shooting at us. I know they said it didn't hit anything vital, but he was losing a lot of blood. If he didn't get to a hospital, he could have bled out and died. If Phantom hadn't shown up," Dash shrugged a shoulder, "who knows if we would have gotten him to the hospital in time? I don't care what that dick Officer Walker says. Phantom's a hero."

Danny bowed his head, praying he wasn't blushing. It was odd, hearing Dash call him a hero. Of course, Dash had no idea that Phantom was really the loser he picked on every day. What would Dash think of Phantom then? Danny hoped that questioned remained unanswered.


	45. Chapter 45

"You are a total life saver, Danny!" Elle saved her work at the computer, hitting the button several times in a row like she feared losing the report she had to turn in before the winter break. Danny almost laughed as he watched her, because he had a habit of doing the same when he wrote reports for classes. "I was struggling with a few concepts for this paper. I totally wouldn't have been able to finish it without your help."

The remodel of her room looked great after the attack by Mr. Technus. If he hadn't known it happened, Danny would never know it was destroyed recently. The construction was finished up quickly, and Danny guessed having lots of money to offer for a fast job came in handy.

Danny packed his things back into his bag. "Some of that was a bit tricky. Even for me." He stood up from his seat on the foot of her bed then tossed his bag over one shoulder. "I'm just glad I was able to help you get it all finished before it was due."

"You and me both." Elle sighed tiredly as she leaned back in her computer chair. "I don't even want to think of what would happen if I came home with another bad score."

Danny frowned as he stared at her. "Well, I would feel disappointed in myself for doing a poor job of helping you understand the material."

"You are way better at explaining things than any of my teachers," Elle assured him with a bright smile. "Ever consider being a teacher? I think you'd be really good at it."

Danny chuckled with a small shake of his head. "Maybe I'll consider that as a backup plan." He checked the time on his watch and sighed. "I should really head off now."

While his foot wasn't completely healed, he could at least walk on it without wincing too much. A dull throb remained, but it was no longer so intense he wanted to cry with every step. He had skipped his patrol last night, but he didn't want to miss another night. What if tonight was the night he finally got a clue about his sister's murderer? He couldn't pass up that chance, even if there was a madman after him. He would just have to be smarter this time.

His injury wasn't his only reason for the night off. He needed to get his suit fixed after the side of it was slashed open. As he remembered asking Tucker to fix the suit, Danny frowned. He thought it was a simple favor to ask, and Tucker was excited when he first showed off the sketch, finishing the costume in record time. But when Danny asked for the suit to be patched up, Tucker grew unreasonably angry. His shout of "am I just a maid service to you?" still echoed in Danny's ears. He didn't understand what was going on with his friend.

"Say, um," Danny said, rubbing at the back his neck. Thinking about Tucker had brought something else to his mind. "You haven't heard anything from Ember recently, have you?"

"Hm?" Elle tilted her head, thinking about the question. "Last thing she told me was that she was going into the studio to work on her album."

Danny nodded, though he wasn't sure the answered helped him. Was she really in a studio working on a new album full of hypnotic music? Or did she only tell Elle that so her friend wouldn't worry about her disappearing again? "That's good then," he said, smiling at Elle. "Maybe she'll be famous all over the country soon."

"I hope so!" Elle's face lit up with excitement at the idea of her friend becoming famous.

Danny's mouth twitched in a small smile. "Okay. Well, I should be off now." He walked toward the door of Elle's bedroom, and she jumped up from her seat to follow him.

"I guess goodbye until our next tutoring session," Elle said when they neared the front door of her home.

"Though with the break coming up, that might not be until next year," Danny replied with half a grin as his phone vibrated against his hip. "Maybe sometime during the break we can meet up to celebrate not having tons of homework to do for a while."

Elle bobbed her head. "Sounds like a plan! If you're not too busy doing family stuff and hanging out with your friends."

Danny ruffled her hair with a laugh. "Do you think I don't consider you a friend?"

"I wasn't entirely sure." Elle swatted at his hand then tried to smooth out her messy locks. "I mean, are we friends? Or am I just the person you tutor?"

"I think of you as a friend." Danny shrugged, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. When the door opened suddenly behind him, he jumped, scooting off to the side. He shifted awkwardly as Mr. Masters stepped into his home. A part of him wanted to yell at the man for what happened at Axion Labs, but he had to bite his tongue on those feelings. He couldn't say or do anything which might hint at his identity as Phantom. His hand squeezed into a tight fist, hidden inside his jeans pocket. For Tucker, he wanted to inquire about Mr. Technus. But how could he do it without giving himself away?

"Heading home already, Daniel?" Mr. Master shrugged out of his overcoat. "We'd be happy to have you stay for dinner."

"Ah," Danny glanced hesitantly at Elle, who held a hopeful gleam in her eyes, "well, that's a nice offer, sir. But my parents will be expecting me to be home for dinner. And I wanted to meet up with my friends to discuss something about our homework assignment before that."

"That's too bad." Elle frowned in disappointment.

"Now, Elle." Mr. Masters stared sternly at his daughter. "I'm sure Daniel has his own busy schedule to keep to." He turned to Danny and smiled, though the expression didn't seem quite as genuine on him anymore. "Perhaps another time then."

Danny nodded, a slow bob of his head. Sharing a meal with Mr. Masters didn't appeal to him, but he would consider agreeing for Elle's sake. "Another time," he replied. He took a step toward the door then paused. "Um, Mr. Masters, I know my school's teacher Mr. Technus occasionally worked for your company on projects."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Masters said after a beat of silence, like he only just remembered who the teacher was. "He was hurt in that explosion at your school, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, he's been in a coma since then. But my friend tired to visit recently. He's always been close to Mr. Technus. He's a member of the robotics club at our school. So when we found out Mr. Technus was hurt in the explosion, it hit my friend pretty hard. The fact that he actually went to the hospital to visit Mr. Technus says a lot about how much the man means to him. My friend is pretty much terrified of hospitals. We have to blindfold him whenever we have to pass the door to the nurse's office at school." Danny swallowed, realizing he was rambling. "When my friend went to the hospital, the doctor told him that Mr. Technus had been moved. To being under your care."

"Yes, that's right. My medical team is keeping watch over him."

"Is it possible for my friend to visit Mr. Technus?" Hope swelled inside him, even though Danny knew it was impossible after what happened at Axion Labs. "It would mean a lot to my friend."

Mr. Masters' mouth thinned slightly, almost unnoticeably, except Danny was paying extra close attention for any signs that might give away the man's thoughts. "I'll have to speak with my medical staff. It might be that they don't want visitors interfering with their care."

Danny nodded, managing to look disappointed, but he figured he might receive an answer similar to the one Mr. Masters gave him. "Well, if it's possible, just let me know." He smiled to Elle. "See you later." After their goodbyes, Danny was able to step outside, and he released a sigh as he walked away from the house and headed for the first stop on his list of potential targets for the criminals linked to his sister's murder. When he was a block away, he fished out his phone to check the message left on it.

[ _it might just be a lunar eclipse ur looking for_ ~~~]

Danny almost choked when he tried to stifle a snort of a laugh at D's text. With a roll of his eyes, he typed out his own reply.

[ _don't u mean lunatic?_ ]

He crossed the street, almost with a skip in his step. More people were out tonight, enjoying the start of their weekend, but it forced him to weave around the crowd. Danny kept close to the buildings so he could duck down a dark alley when needed. Would that madman from a few nights ago be setting up traps for Phantom again? He hoped not, but he also knew eventually he would have deal with this man before he caused any more trouble for the town.

His phone buzzed with a new message just as Danny was checking out the first of the many facilities. He pulled out his phone, a smile already spreading onto his face.

[ _i could b your lunatic. ;)_ ]

Danny bit down on his lower lip, his cheeks burning as he typed a reply. A small white flake drifted into his line of vision, falling upon his phone's screen. He glanced up at the sky, seeing more snowflakes lazily making their way to the ground. If the snowing got too bad, he would have to cut his patrol short.

[ _idk. i might have enough crazy in my life right now_.]

D's response came back quickly.

[ _Ah! You wound me1_ ]

Danny grinned as he walked down the street and passed a couple of women, who gave him weird looks. He quickly bit back his smile, wiping away the dopey expression he had probably wore, but he couldn't help teasing D a little. After all, the man liked to tease him a lot too.

When he was approaching the third facility, a chill passed over him, but like a whisper, it was only a faint feeling. It provided hope for him, though. Danny found a safe spot to change into his costume where he wouldn't be seen by anyone passing by or out any windows. After stowing his bag away, he headed for building, which was making his ghost sense go off. Then he remembered the advice given to him by both Dan and Tucker: he had invisibility. He needed to act smarter, be more cautious, or he would end up in another situation like the other night and have to be saved by a mercenary. It was possible, he realized, that he might actually learn more from the criminals if he laid in wait while invisible. The criminals would be more likely to talk openly among themselves if they didn't know he was there.

His body faded away as he shifted to invisible. Then Danny continued toward the building and phased his way inside through the wall. Before he could take a good look around the lobby area, he heard a shuffling noise. He scanned the room as he walked forward, his steps slow and quiet so he wouldn't alert anyone who might be in the dark lobby. A shadow moved, and Danny jerked his gaze toward it. His eyes were still adjusting to the darkness, but the shadowy figure looked like it belonged to larger person.

Danny crept up behind the person, who was a good head taller than he. If his mother and aunt had taught him anything, it was that size didn't necessarily matter in a fight. His mother could take down men twice her size. But Danny wasn't his mother. He had picked up some fighting moves from his mother and aunt, but he didn't share their level of training. Straightening his posture a little, he cast away his doubts. He might not have as much experience, but he couldn't let that distract him when it came to a fight. If he doubted himself, he could guarantee himself a loss.

Danny struck, landing a well placed kick to the back of the person's knee. The man, from the sound of his grunt, dropped to a knee, but the blow didn't keep him down for long. Danny dodged the punch the man threw as he twisted around, aiming blindly at his attacker. When he countered with his own punch, Danny's fist glanced the man's side. Then his arm was trapped, the man pinning Danny's arm to his side with his own arm. The man chuckled, something about this whole situation amusing him. Even with his opponent invisible, he managed to grab hold of Danny. Then after a bit of a struggle between them, he slammed Danny to the ground with his head smacking the hard tiled flooring as he lost hold on his invisibility. Danny gasped, too dazed to move at first.

"Nice try, Phantom," the man whispered, leaning in close enough to speak into Danny's ear.

Danny blinked his vision clear. "Dan!" he gasped in surprise. Despite the dark, he still had a sense telling him the mercenary was grinning behind his mask.

"I guess I should have expected you to turn up." Dan placed one hand next to Danny's head and shifted his weight slightly, drawing Danny's attention to the awkward position they were in with Dan practically laying on top of him.

Danny gritted his teeth as he narrowed his eyes. "Are you here to kill someone?" Though it didn't look like anyone was still working in the building.

"Not everything I do involves killing." Dan tilted his head. "Mostly though. Explosions sometimes. Those are always fun."

The mercenary had dropped his guard. Danny used that opportunity to his advantage. In one quick movement, he turned the tables, rolling them over so he was on top instead. "So you _are_ here to kill someone." He glared at the mercenary as he pressed his forearm hard against the man's throat.

"You," Dan wheezed, "are surprisingly strong."

"Who are you here to kill?" Danny demanded in a low growl.

"I have an idea." Dan wrestled him, and though he fought back, Danny ended up with his face pressed against the floor while his arms were twisted behind his back. "We should team up. You're here. I'm here. There's a criminal sneaking around in the labs. We should totally stop him together."

"There's a flaw in your idea." Danny tugged at the man's grip on his arms, but the mercenary had effectively trapped him.

"Oh? Really?" Dan questioned, baffled by the hero's comment. "It sounded like a perfect idea to me."

"Except you're ignoring that you're a criminal here too. I won't work with a criminal, especially a cold hearted killer." Danny phased his hands free from Dan's hold then slammed a foot into the man's chest before he scrambled away to put some distance between them. "Once I'm finished dealing with you, I'll take care of whomever broke in here without your help."

"Ouch." Dan rubbed at his chest. Then he leaned forward, resting an arm on his drawn up knee. "But have you considered that I might not be here to kill someone?"

Danny eyed the man, skeptical of everything he had to say. "Why would I ever consider that?"

"Hm!" Dan tapped a finger to his chin like he was deep in thought about the question. "Maybe because I did save your life last time." Even though a mask hid his face, Danny knew the man was grinning. "So I think you owe me a little consideration."

"I'm not helping you kill someone."

With a sigh, the mercenary stood. "The longer we stand here arguing with each other, the more time we give this guy to get what he wants and make a clean get away. So the question is: do you want to fight me or stop the burglar?"

Danny ground his teeth, frustration washing over him like an irritating itch he couldn't reach. He didn't want to work with a mercenary, but he also didn't want to allow the burglar to escape because he wasted time arguing. "Fine," he muttered with great reluctance. "But I have a condition. You can't kill anyone."

"Well, that just takes the fun out of it." Dan folded his arms, and Danny almost believed he was pouting. "I can still cut off a few limbs, though, right?"

"No!" Danny shook his head. "There will be no killing and no cutting off of any body parts. In fact, you can't use any weapons you might have on you. No arguments," he said firmly before the mercenary could say anything. "That's the deal, or I won't team up with you."

Dan's shoulders sagged in disappointment. "Fine," he agreed, though he clearly didn't like the restrictions Danny placed on their team up. "We should try the labs on the upper floors. That's probably where we'll find them." He took the lead, heading for the emergency stairwell so they wouldn't alert the burglar by using the elevator.

Danny followed, though he had some reservations about trusting a mercenary. Why did Dan come to his rescue before? Did he hope to gain something by it? Why did he turn up here tonight? If someone broke in to steal something, why would Dan care? Did someone who worked in the laboratories here hire Dan to stop anyone who tried to steal from it? Danny had too many questions about the whole situation.

Danny doubted he would get any straight answers from the mercenary, but he pushed forward, phasing right through the man. Then he turned around and blocked the path to the top of the stairs. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

Danny ground his teeth in frustration at the man's confused tone. "How did you know about the man targeting me?"

Dan sighed as he moved up a step. "Forget about it." He brushed past Danny to reach the eighth floor of the building.

Danny grabbed the mercenary's arm before he could take another step. "I'm not going to forget about it. You know something. You knew someone was targeting me. You even planned a distraction to help me escape. I want to know what you know. Who was it? Are they working for someone? Who are they-"

Dan twisted around and shoved him into the wall. Danny gulped as he stared into the eyes of the mercenary's mask. Somehow, right now, it looked rather intimidating. "You can't go into a fight worrying about a million other things," Dan whispered heatedly. "That's how you get yourself hurt. Or worse. Those questions are a distraction. If you're not going to focus on the fight, then don't bother coming with me." He released his hold on Danny then turned to continue down the hall.

Seething anger burned through him as Danny glared at the back of Dan's head. He knew the mercenary had a point about not being distracted in a fight, but he hated being called on it by someone who killed people for a living. His fingers twitched at his sides with an odd burning freezing sensation. It was like when he was younger, he would go outside in the snow and play without wearing gloves. His fingers would get so cold they almost felt like they were burning. Danny breathed in deeply then exhaled slowly to release the anger. When the burning freezing sensation faded, he pushed away from the wall and followed after the mercenary.

Dan nudged open the door to one of the laboratories when Danny reached him. The faint chill from before now stabbed at the back of his head, and Danny stood frozen as the mercenary cautiously peeked into the room.

"This doesn't feel right," Danny whispered. "Something's wrong."

Dan pulled back, allowing the door to swing close behind him. "Yeah, you don't want to go in there."

His eyes widened a fraction in alarm. Danny rushed forward. Dan grabbed at him to stop him, but Danny passed right through his hands then shoved open the door. After only two steps into the laboratory, he saw why Dan wanted to stop him. His stomach tried to revolt at the sight. Two scientists, a man and a woman, lay on the floor with their throats slashed open. Blood pooled out from their bodies. Their lifeless eyes stared in his direction, like they were pointing the blame at him for their deaths. If he had gotten here sooner, he could have stopped this from happening. If he hadn't wasted time arguing with Dan, they would still be alive.

"They must have been working late," Dan commented in an oddly detached tone. "We shouldn't stick around. The police can deal with this." When Danny didn't move, Dan stepped up behind him and gently took hold of his arms.

"Dan."

"Yeah?"

"Do you hear ticking?" Danny hadn't noticed it at first, but the soft _tick tick tick_ coming from somewhere in the laboratory steadily grew more noticeable to his ear.

"We gotta move!" Dan shoved him toward the other side of the laboratory where there were large windows that nearly made up the entire wall.

"That's not really-"

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

The window before them cracked, spider webbing outward from where the bullets pierced the glass. Danny only had time to think " _Holy cosmos!_ " before they jumped, crashing through the window.

"I didn't think this through," Dan shouted as they plummeted toward the ground. A second later, the laboratory exploded, sending up a column of dark smoke through the broken windows.


	46. Chapter 46

He was so dead. They leapt out the window on the eighth floor of the building and plummeted toward the hard pavement of the alley behind the building. How they would survive without at least a few dozen broken bones, Danny couldn't see an answer. In fact, he couldn't see at all because after they smashed through the window Dan shot at, he had screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to see a painful end rising swiftly to meet them. He squeezed his arms around Dan, _praying_ for some miracle to save them.

He was a ghost, or at least, he was half ghost. Ghosts had the ability to fly. Danny was fairly certain that was fact. It made sense, somehow, though it was hard to think of the scientific explanations when he might end up being full ghost in a matter of moments. But if flight didn't work, maybe he could turn them intangible so they wouldn't slam into the ground. Flight, he thought, would be much better for their current situation.

"Woo!" The shout was right in Danny's ear. "I can't believe it. Did you do that?"

Slowly, Danny cracked open his eyes and stared over one of Dan's shoulders. They hovered a few feet off the ground, still alive and without injury. He released his breath, sagging as all the tension rushed out of him. They hit the pavement, and Dan grunted as he landed on his back with Danny on top of him. He laughed, pressing his forehead against the man's shoulder. His body shook, and he thought tears had sprung to his eyes, but he couldn't help it, even the little sob that escaped him. They were alive! And somehow he had activated his ability to fly. Or, at the very least, he could hover.

"I don't mean to interrupt the moment or anything," Dan said, "but I think-" The blare of sirens grew closer.

"Right." Danny needed no other prompting to retreat away from the building before the firemen and police arrived. He climbed to his feet then wobbled as a dizzy spell hit him. "Hey!" he yelped when the mercenary lifted him into his arms.

"We don't want to hang around here. Think you can manage that invisibility trick?" Dan walked down the alley at a quick pace.

Danny huffed in irritation at being carried but turned them both invisible so they could escape without the police spotting them. He hated being carried around like a child, but part of him was glad for the chance not to think for a while. The sounds of the sirens faded in the background as they fled farther away. Danny stared up at the sky, the stars twinkling in the breaks of the clouds. _Not a storm_ , he hoped.

"My job would be a lot easier if I had that skill."

Something warm touched the side of his head, and Danny jerked away. He blinked several times as he took in his surroundings. "Where are we?" He lifted his gaze to Dan as his brow creased with confusion. From what he saw, he sat on the ledge of a building looking over the downtown area of Amity Park.

Dan joined him, throwing his legs over the ledge. "Good to see you're back with me." He held something out, and when he looked, Danny saw it was a to go cup from the local coffee shop.

Danny took the cup, deciding something warm would be nice after being out in the chilly weather. "Sorry." He frowned then after a moment snorted. "That was all very heroic, huh?" He could only imagine how pathetic he had to look to the other man. He groaned internally when he realized he spaced out in the arms of a killer.

"I won't tell anyone," Dan said, and Danny could practically _see_ the man's grin, even with the mask hiding his face. "And anyway, you at least didn't scream the entire way down."

"Oh, well, I'm glad I still have a small piece of my pride intact." Danny sighed, drawing his legs up so he could rest his chin upon his knees. "How are you so calm after that? We could be lying back there broken and dead after that fall, and you act like it was nothing."

"Eh." Dan shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time I've done something stupid without thinking it through first. Actually, I would have to say I do that a lot. But in my line of work, you don't always get the time to think through every scenario. It's good to have a plan ahead of time. That part is true. And you definitely should check things out before diving into a situation. But when the fighting comes, well, sometimes stuff happens that you can't plan for and you have to improvise. That's where crazy, stupid ideas come into play."

"Like jumping out a window eight floors up?"

"It was that or get blown up. I took a chance." Dan smacked him on the back. "And hey, you learned a new ability."

Danny felt a swell of excitement, wanting to practice his new ability. Then he deflated when he realized he owed it to Dan for his stupid move. "You jump out windows a lot then?"

"Smooth." Dan leaned back on his hands. "Quite a few times. Hurts a lot."

"And you're not dead?"

"I guess Death decided it didn't want to take me yet."

Danny stared at the man beside him, not entirely sure what to make of him. Dan was a mercenary, a killer. Danny should hate him. He should knock Dan out and leave him on the front steps of the police department. But somehow, Danny felt comfortable just sitting there with the man. Right here, like this, he could almost image Dan was just an ordinary man. Everything would be easier if Dan wasn't a mercenary.

"All of that just now," Danny took a shaky breath, "that wasn't you, right?"

"I am deeply offended by that!" Dan slapped a hand over his chest like something had struck him in the heart.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "You do kill people for a living. You even said explosions were fun. And what happens? We find dead bodies and the place explodes."

"And why would I blow myself up?"

"To throw me off!" Danny knew he was grabbing desperately at straws. Even if Dan _did_ want to throw him off, it was an awfully big risk, especially when neither of them knew Danny could fly, hover, levitate, or whatever he did back there.

"I wasn't there to kill them."

"But you admit you were going to kill someone."

Dan turned his head toward Danny. The silence stretched on. "I don't have to explain my job to you."

"It would be nice if you gave me some sort of explanation!" Danny shouted, nearly crushing the cup in his hands. "You knew someone was targeting me. You showed up to make sure they didn't kill me." Frowning, he put the cup down on the ledge then turned to face Dan. "Is that it? Is that why you were there tonight? Because the same guy was trying to get me again?"

"It's not always about you!" Dan was on his feet in a flash.

Danny scrambled to his feet, knocking the cup over and spilling the coffee onto the rooftop in the process. The mercenary was gone by the time he looked up. Danny sighed, rubbing at his head tiredly. What was that outburst about? Frowning, he bent down to pick up the fallen cup. _Whatever_ , Danny thought as he walked toward the roof door leading back into the building. He didn't need to add thinking about Dan's weirdness to his list when he already had too many things to worry about.

He headed down the stairs, invisibly in case anyone was still in the building, as he turned over the events of the evening. Someone had killed two people then blew up the laboratory. But why? Was it in hopes of erasing evidence? He shook his head, trying to clear it of the jumbled thoughts. When he stepped out of the building, a few snowflakes drifted lazily from the sky. He shivered, happy it was merely from the cold, then jogged down the street to find where he had left his bag.

By the time he arrived at home, a thin layer of snow coated the ground. Danny entered the house then reached up and ran his hand through his hair to shake out the snow. He passed the doorway to the front room on his way to the kitchen when he paused then backtracked a few steps.

"You were out late." His mother frowned severely at him.

"But I'm back before curfew." Danny walked into the front room, his gaze focused upon the big Christmas tree standing in front of the window. He hadn't noticed it on his way into the house because he wasn't paying attention. Cujo was rolling around on the floor with a string of garland tangled around him, looking like he was greatly enjoying himself.

"It's a Friday," his father said, grinning as he pulled out ornaments from a box. "I'm sure Danny and his friends just wanted to have some fun. Come help us." He waved Danny over as he stood.

"You got a tree." Danny dropped his bag by the doorway then walked into the front room.

His father glanced to his wife then back to Danny. "Oh." His jolly expression fell, and he grimaced like he was just punched in the gut. "We thought - Well, it will be Christmas soon." He sighed as he sat back down on the couch. "It's going to be strange without Jazzypants here too."

Danny felt like the bottom of his stomach had just fallen away. How could they think of celebrating Christmas without Jazz? He walked over to where his father sat and reached into the box on the table before the couch to grab an ornament. "Jazz wouldn't want us to just skip Christmas," he said as he hung the ornament on the tree. The ornament was a little pinecone angel that he and Jazz had made when they were little and had somehow survived the years. Danny smiled softly as he remembered making it with his sister.

"Ah! We still had those?"

Danny glanced over at his mother, who had come to stand beside him. She reached out to hold the pinecone angel in her hand with a smile on her face.

"The two of you went nuts making them for Christmas that year. I swear we had hundreds of them by the time you both finished." His mother laughed at the recalled memory. "I had to send some to my sister because there were so many."

"I managed to sell a couple," Danny admitted. "Because of that, I was able to save up enough to get Jazz her Bearbert toy."

His mother wiped a tear from her eye. "Jazz really treasured it."

It hurt thinking back on those memories. Danny felt a sharp pain in his chest. But in a way, it was good. The memories remained clear and vivid in his mind. He wouldn't be forgetting all the time he spent with his sister any time soon.

"Oh," his father said, drawing their attention to where he remained sitting on the couch. In his hands, he held a familiar red stocking with white trim on top. "Jazz's stocking." He frowned as he lifted his gaze. "What should we do with it?"

His mother frowned, holding a hand to her cheek as she considered. "We could still hanging it up." She turned her gaze to Danny with a worried crease on her brow. Even his father watched Danny carefully, like they were waiting to see what his reaction would be. "What do you think?"

From his parents' expressions, Danny got the impression they didn't want to do anything that might be too painful on him. They were hurting too, but they put aside their feelings for his sake. Danny put on a smile. "Yeah. We should totally put it up. Jazz might be," he hesitated, "gone, but she's still with us in spirit. Ah, I don't mean like a ghost though," he added hurriedly before his parents could misinterpret his meaning. "I just meant that she might be gone, but she's not _gone_ gone. She's still here." He dropped his gaze, feeling flustered with his poor explanation.

His mother wrapped her arms around him, embracing him tightly. "We know," she told him quietly.

His father came over to join them, dragging both wife and son into a big bear hug. Cujo barked as he trotted around them with the string of garland trailing behind him. It was warm and comforting, but in the back of his mind, Danny couldn't forget this hug was because of his sister's death.

"Well," his mother said as she wiggled her way free from the hug, "I think I'll go make us some hot cocoa to drink while we finish decorating the tree." Leaving them alone, she walked into the kitchen, but Danny was sure he saw her wiping tears from her eyes again.

"She wasn't sure if we should celebrate this year," his father admitted in a low tone as he walked over to the box of decorations. "Without Jazz, it seemed like it just wouldn't be Christmas." He pulled out another ornament to add to the tree. "But it would feel strange not to celebrate Christmas too."

"I don't think Jazz would want us to ignore holidays just because she's gone." Danny grabbed some more ornaments from the box. "We can't just put things on pause. We just have to keep moving forward but still remember her."

His father ruffled his son's hair. "You're growing up and getting so wise." He sighed wistfully. "And you'll be going off to college after next year." With a frown, he added another ornament. "It's all gone by so quickly. I can't believe you'll be a senior next year. I still keep thinking of you as my little boy."

Danny rolled his eyes with a light smile. "Well, I'll always be your son, though I'm not so little anymore." He would be graduating next year. Another ornament went up on the tree. He couldn't believe it either. Soon, he would have to start looking at colleges and filling out college applications. But he shook his head, deciding to worry about such things later. For now, he would focus on his upcoming break giving him a little time to relax.


	47. Chapter 47

"How is it almost Christmas?" Danny asked as they walked the crowded street. It was almost time for the lighting ceremony, and the three friends had to wade through the thick crowd to get anywhere. At least this year, he had a good amount of cash to get decent presents for everyone, all thanks to tutoring Elle.

"It really feels like it came out of nowhere, huh?" Sam admitted despite not celebrating the holiday. She would still get them presents for their usual exchange the day after.

"Who cares about Christmas?" Tucker grumbled, hugging his arms around himself and trying to burying his face deeper into his scarf. The snowfall from the prior night had stuck, and some areas had a good two or three feet of snow. If they got even more by the end of the weekend, their winter break might start early.

"Isn't Danny supposed to be the Christmas Grinch?" Sam's brow furrowed with confusion.

"I just think it's stupid to be so concerned with Christmas when there are more important things to worry about," Tucker snapped back. "Or am I really the only one who cares about what happened to Mr. Technus?"

"I care too," Danny argued. "I even asked Mr. Masters about him, but obviously, he's not going to come out and tell me the truth about what happened. I don't want to press the topic too hard or he might start questioning why I'm asking about it so much."

Tucker turned on him and jabbed a finger into his friend's chest. "You have other ways to get the information. You just don't care enough to actually get the answers."

"Tucker!" Danny didn't like the eerie gleam in his friend's eyes. "I'm trying my best. But there's more going on here. And Mr. Technus hasn't reappeared since the whole thing with the giant robot." He prayed that didn't mean Mr. Technus was gone for good. He knew how much it would hurt his friend to lose his favorite teacher, but he had too many things grabbing at his attention. He was only one person, and he couldn't devote all his time to one problem when ten more popped up and needed immediate attention.

"Whatever," Tucker muttered, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. "You keep caring only about yourself. Maybe I'll find out what happened to Mr. Technus on my own."

"Tucker, wait!" Danny called when his friend pushed through the crowd, leaving him behind.

"You can't take anything he says to heart." Sam patted him on the shoulder, but her expression seemed doubtful. "I'll try talking to him. Maybe it will help him calm down if it's not you trying to make him see reason."

"Ah, yeah, I guess," Danny agreed, his shoulder slumping in depression. He hadn't realized how badly Tucker was taking everything with Mr. Technus. In fact, he had thought things were okay, or at least, Tucker hadn't shown any anger over what happened until recently. Had something changed? Danny couldn't remember anything happening to his friend to set him off, but that sense of being a bad friend weighed down on him. "I'll just hang around here."

Sam nodded. "I'll try to drag him back here." Then she darted off to chase after their friend.

Danny sighed as he looked for a place to wait for his friends where he wouldn't run the risk of being shoved around or trampled in the crowd. Maybe he _had_ gotten too wrapped up in everything that was happening recently. But he couldn't simply ignore things. Was he supposed to look the other way when he saw someone robbing a store? Was he supposed to just let Ember keep the other students under her hypnosis, mind control spell? Maybe he could leave some stuff to the police, but he couldn't leave them to deal with people like Mr. Technus and Ember with their unusual abilities.

Then there was Dan. What was he even supposed to think when it came to the mercenary? Dan was about to assassinate someone during their first meeting. But since then, he hadn't seen the mercenary attempting to kill someone. Dan had even saved him!

_That doesn't make him a good guy though_ , Danny thought with a frown. Dan still killed people for a living. Maybe Danny hadn't heard anything in the news or come across Dan actually killing someone, but it didn't change the fact that Dan got paid to murder people. Still, he felt some confliction. During their brief conversations, Danny hadn't completely hated the mercenary.

"Ah, sorry!" Danny said when he accidentally bumped into someone. He lifted his gaze and gasped in surprise. "You!"

"You're looking pretty mopey." The man grinned from under his hood. "Did you miss me that much?"

Danny punched the hooded man on the shoulder, making the man rub his arm with a frown. "And I thought you were avoiding me or something."

"Now why would I do something like that?" The man tilted his head in a curious gesture.

"Well," Danny shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked away, "I've been taking Cujo to the park on the weekends, but you never showed up. I thought maybe you were just being nice by saying you would come."

With a chuckle, the man shook his head. "I wasn't tossing out a lie to be nice or whatever you've been thinking." He poked Danny in the forehead. "I really meant it. I've just been busy with some things."

"Yeah, I kind of thought that too." Danny shifted awkwardly. "You probably have a job and all that. So it shouldn't be surprising that you might be busy on the weekend." He glanced back to the man when he heard a hum of thought.

After he looked about for a minute, the man grinned. "To make it up, why don't I buy you a drink?"

Danny breathed out a laugh. "You realize I'm still in high school, right?"

"I wouldn't tell anyone." The man placed a finger to his lips, which stretched into a smirk. "But I actually meant from that hot chocolate stand over there." He pointed in the direction, and when he looked, Danny saw the vendor the man meant. It was common for those kind of stands to pop up during the time when people would be out for Christmas celebrations. Some sold things like roasted chestnuts and other Christmas related treats.

"Oh." Danny flushed in his embarrassment of misinterpreting the man's meaning. "Yeah, hot chocolate sounds good." They walked toward the stand when he heard a snicker beside him. Danny snapped his head toward the man, worry working its way through him.

"You're cute," the man commented quietly. His mouth quirked in a small smirk while Danny's cheeks flared with a darker blush. "You were worried that I didn't like you."

Flustered, Danny stumbled when his foot accidentally turned intangible and sank an inch through the sidewalk before he realized what happened. The hooded man caught his arm to help steady him. "I don't even know your name," he said, hoping it sounded like an offhanded comment and his embarrassment didn't leak into his voice. What a time for him to have a slip up with his powers! Thankfully, no one seemed to notice what happened. If anything, they probably thought he had tripped over something on the sidewalk. "But Cujo sure misses you."

"I miss the little guy too. My place is so quiet now without him." The man held up two fingers, indicating to the hot chocolate vendor that he wanted two cups. "As for my name," he grinned, placing the money for their hot chocolate on the booth's counter, "it's-"

"Wow. Fentonio isn't hanging around with his loser friends?"

Danny cringed at the familiar voice. When he turned away from the hot chocolate stand, he saw not only Dash but the rest of his A List friends. Why did they have to show up now of all times? The man was about to tell him his name! But more than that, he didn't want the hooded man seeing how much of a loser he was. His heart sank when he thought the man might not want anything to do with him when he learned Danny was just a high school loser.

"Where are the other two?" Valerie questioned with a quick scan of the area. "Didn't have a fight with them, did you?' She lifted an eyebrow at him, and Danny _almost_ thought she was signaling some concern, though he decided that couldn't possibly be it.

"Wait!" Kwan's eyes widened, and Danny worried what thought went through the jock's head. Kwan wouldn't say anything mean, but that didn't mean he wouldn't say something embarrassing unintentionally. "Is this a date?"

"No way!" Star argued immediately, and Danny felt a strong urge to protest after seeing the utter disbelief on her face.

"So what if it is?" asked the hooded man as he draped an arm over Danny's shoulders.

"But you're totally out of his league," Paulina gasped like she was scandalized by the very idea.

The man leaned in closer and whispered in a confused voice, "They're not bullying you because you're gay?"

"Ah, I've been out as bi for a while now," Danny explained in a low tone. "I don't really mind the teasing. But, uh, they're the popular kids at my school. I'm," he chewed on his lower lip, "just a loser to them."

The man's mouth pulled thin, like all his anger was condensing into that single line. With their heads so close together, Danny could see the intense blue eyes hiding in the shadows of the man's hood. He gulped nervously, his brain stalling for something to say because staring into the man's eyes, he almost worried the man might do something dangerous.

"A loser?" The man laughed, turning his gaze to the A List, who all flinched. "Seems to me they're a bit blind if they can't see you for what you really are."

"Whatever," Dash scoffed, and though he scowled, his eyes held a hint of fear. "Let's get out of here." When he walked off, the rest of the A List followed, though Kwan lagged behind to give Danny a pat on the shoulder and a thumbs up before he hurried to catch up with his friends.

"Hm." The man leaned on Danny while they both watched the A List walk away. "At least one of them seems okay."

"Kwan's pretty much always nice to everyone." After a beat of silence, Danny glanced at the man and bit the inside of his cheek in nervousness. "Uh, so, I guess you know now. About me being bi."

The man nodded, his expression hard to read until he grinned. "I guess that's good for me."

Danny swallowed, fighting to keep his blush from exploding across his face. He was too flustered to even think of a response.

"Hello, Amity Park!"

Danny twisted around, pulling away from the man as his gaze darted about the crowd in search of Ember. What was she doing here? And why now? Bursts of neon blue flames exploded from the stage where the mayor would make his usual speech before they flipped the switch to light the Christmas tree in the center of the plaza. The crowd gasped and murmured, some screamed in surprise. Danny needed to do something before Ember could use her mind control power on everyone present. Scrabbling to think of an excuse, he turned back around, but the hooded man was already gone.

On the plus side, Danny didn't need to worry about making up some sort of excuse. He couldn't help wondering where the man vanished to, but he couldn't worry about that when his ghost sense was telling him something bad was about to happen. With so many people out for the traditional Christmas tree lighting though, finding a place to change would be a struggle. He pushed past people, squeezing through the crowd until he was able to duck down an alley.

"I know you're here to see some lame, boring tree lighting thing," Ember continued, her voice reaching over the entire crowd. "But how about having some fun instead?"

Danny dug into his pocket then hurriedly shoved the earplugs Tucker made into his ears before Ember could strum the first cord on her guitar. He would have to remember to thank Tucker later if the earplugs worked. But the situation was not good! Most of the town was present for the tree lighting. If she used her powers, Ember could take control of almost the whole town. After some searching, Danny found a small alcove between two buildings where he would be well out of anyone's sight. He changed quickly into his costume and transformed.

Danny passed by Sam's car just long enough to toss his bag into the backseat. Then he shifted to invisible and rushed back to the plaza. When he arrived, he saw Ember's music was already taking affect on those listening to it. Members of the crowd chanted Ember's name as she sang, but when he glanced around, Danny saw some people with worried looks and shaking the chanters, trying to snap them from the mind control.

The earplugs seemed to work as Tucker described. Danny could hear everything, but he didn't feel that same draw like he did when they went to the abandoned music store. But why did Ember's music only affect some people and not everyone? There had to be an explanation behind that, but Danny couldn't let it distract him. He darted toward the stage, phasing through the crowd until he reached it and jumped onto the stage.

Ember looked different from the last time they met. Though she was always pale, she was now almost a sickly ashen color, which only enhanced the strange glow of her green eyes. Her blue hair danced like fire down her backside, and - Was her hair growing? Wait! Was it _actually_ on fire? Danny gasped as if someone struck him in the gut. The way her hair flared out like a growing flame brought to his mind when Mr. Technus appeared before him in a burst of electricity. Had something happened to Ember too?

Danny jerked himself into action. He couldn't stand around numbly, being too absorbed in his thoughts, when the town was falling under Ember's mind control. Snatching up the wire to the microphone, he ripped apart the two ends, disconnecting the microphone from its power source. The sound from the microphone faded. If nothing else, it would at least shorten the range of her power.

Ember stopped playing a second later when she noticed the microphone had stopped working. Turning around, her gaze drifted about the stage like she was searching for something. "Is that you?" Her mouth stretched into a smirk. "Mr. Invisible from last time?" She took a few steps, and Danny backed away. "They said you'd show up again if I made a scene."

"They?" Danny questioned as they circled each other despite Ember not being able to see him. This was different from his fight with Mr. Technus. Ember wasn't looking to murder anyone. She hadn't even attacked anyone. The only thing she had done was use her power to build a following of zombie fans. And she was someone Elle looked up to. Danny felt guilty at the thought of harming the singer. "Who exactly is they?"

"Show yourself and maybe I'll answer your question."

Could he trust her? Danny wasn't quite sure. Ember could merely be offering something he wanted but didn't actually know anything. Danny dropped his invisibility, with his hands held up to show he meant no harm. "Ember-"

"Ember McLain!" Then with a sneer in his voice, the man added, "And _Phantom_."

They both turned their heads, and Danny groaned mentally when he saw Officer Walker standing at the edge of the stage. Could this night get any worse? If it was Valerie's father, Danny thought they could maybe reason with the Police Chief. Officer Walker was like an unmovable wall. He wouldn't budge even if they explained the whole situation to him.

"You are both under arrest. Put down the guitar and come with me quietly. You _might_ get your charges reduced if you do so." The faint cruel smirk ghosting over the officer's face, however, suggested he didn't plan on letting either of them receive a shorter sentence for complying.

"Ha," Ember snorted with her hand positioned to strum out another cord on her guitar. "And you think I'll-"

Danny jerked his head around to a building behind them when he felt a spike of cold. Then he rushed forward and tackled Ember, and together they rolled over the edge of the stage. The guitar broke free from Ember's hold and thumped against the ground. A second later, the stage exploded, sending a rain of wooden shards everywhere. The whole crowd screamed, panic sweeping through them. People shoved each other to get away. Danny looked up to see Officer Walker stomping toward them with anger darkening his gaze. He grabbed Ember's arm and dragged her with him as he got to his feet and ran.


	48. Chapter 48

Danny sucked in deep breaths, holding a hand to his side as he felt it pinch after the long run. The sounds of the plaza had fallen away quite some time ago, so he thought it safe for them to stop. No cops had followed them. They wouldn't be safe. Officer Walker would be on the warpath trying to find them, but Danny was worried more about whoever had shot that explosive at him finding them. After a moment more to catch his breath, he stood up straight and fixed his gaze upon Ember. The singer was breathing hard too and looked like she might drop to the ground if she wasn't using the building's wall to support her, hardly in the best fighting condition.

"You can let go!" Ember tried to yank her arm free from his hold, but Danny refused to loosen his grip.

"So you can try to put me under your control?" So far it seemed like the earplugs were working since her music didn't affect him back at the plaza, but Danny didn't want to giveaway that he might be immune to her power.

Ember took a deep breath then leaned her head back against the wall. "Couldn't do that even if I wanted to." She spread out her free hand. "I lost my guitar back there. Without my guitar, I don't have the power to control people."

Danny stared at her critically. Why would she reveal such a big weakness to him? If he had known that was the key to breaking her control over people, he could have focused on taking away her guitar from the beginning. "What was the whole point behind all of this?"

Ember blinked then laughed, the sound bouncing off the buildings surrounding them. "Isn't that what every musician wants? A legion of fans who adores them?" Her arm slapped against her side when she dropped it. A long sigh passed through her parted lips as she tilted her head back to stare at the sky.

"But is this really the way you want it?" When Ember turned back to him, confusion in her green eyes, Danny sighed tiredly. "The people you mind control - They're just mindless followers. Is that what you want? Wouldn't it be better if you let people hear your music and decide for themselves if they like it or not? Wouldn't you rather let them have the joy of discovering your music and enjoying it? The way it is now, those people probably don't even hear your music. What's the point of even making music if no one's actually going to listen to it?"

Ember opened her mouth, a look of surprise coming over her. "I hadn't thought about that." She dropped her gaze to the ground as she frowned.

Danny finally released his hold on her wrist. "Maybe you should forget about using this whole mind control thing and just focus on making good music that people will like." He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled, before remembering she couldn't see his face. "You already have a few fans. Elle truly enjoys your music."

"Elle's a good kid." Ember smiled fondly.

"So you'll stop with the whole mind control thing?"

"Yeah, I guess." Ember shrugged. "I mean, you did bring up a pretty good point. I want my fans to _actually_ like my music. Having them chanting my name was pretty cool." Her mouth pursed slightly. "Though I guess a little creepy in that zombie like way they said my name."

Danny laughed weakly, but he agreed the scene he saw at the abandoned music store's basement was creepy. "I do have some questions I wanted to ask you though." Since she wasn't attacking him and was actually talking to him, he thought it was a good opportunity to get some answers. "What exactly happened to you? How did you get this ability to control minds?"

"I don't really know." Ember frowned, reaching up to rub at her forehead. "I wasn't really conscious the whole time they were doing stuff. But I remember waking up at one point and feeling very disoriented. It was like an out of body experience or something. You know, like it was just my consciousness floating around. But then after a little while, or maybe it was some days later, I was back to normal. Or well, I guess as normal as having the ability to control minds when I play my music is."

As she talked, a bad feeling weighed down on Danny, a sense of dread creeping up and making his hair stand on end. His gaze flicked over her body then focused on her neon blue hair, which looked almost normal now. But he distinctly remembered her fiery hair growing while she played back at the plaza. That was certainly not something normal for a human. The color drained from his face, and he was glad for the mask. Telling Ember she could be a ghost might not be the best idea.

"Uh, so, can you tell me anything about these people?" Danny asked with a nervous lick of his lips.

Ember held her chin in one hand and tapped a finger as she pondered his question. "It's all a bit fuzzy really."

"Any little detail would be helpful," Danny said, perhaps a bit too forcefully. "There were two of them, right? Two men approached you and gave you a card with an address on it."

Ember's brow creased, and suspicion flashed in her eyes. "How do you know all that?"

"Oh, um, well," Danny winced as he glanced away, "you kind of have a stalker. He doesn't seem to be the violent type though. It sounded like he wanted to talk to you but was too intimidated to actually get up the courage to approach you. He happened to see the whole interaction."

Ember folded her arms with a cocky smirk spreading onto her face. "That stalker isn't you, is it?"

"What?" Danny's voice cracked, and his cheeks burned brightly with embarrassment. "No, no!" He shook his head quickly. "His name is Kyle, and he really likes your music."

"Hm, a stalker." Ember considered the idea for a moment, appearing perhaps a little intrigued. "Well, I think one of the guys might have had a mustache. But like I said, it's all kind of fuzzy." Her brow creased deeply. "That's strange, now that I think about it. After everything, I didn't even bother thinking about those guys that approached me, but now that I'm _trying_ to remember them, it's like I'm looking at them through these super dirty, grease smeared glasses that won't let me make out what they looked like."

"That _is_ strange." The only explanation Danny could think of was the people had done something to Ember's memory so she wouldn't be able to expose who was behind giving her powers to her. It was smart. All members of this organization were kept in the dark or had their memories messed with so they couldn't reveal anything significant about the organization. He hated how smart the people behind this organization were. It made it impossible for him to get even a small step closer to finding out who killed his sister.

"I think your butt is vibrating."

"Huh? Oh!" Danny woke from his thoughts and fished out his phone from the secret pocket of his costume. "Sorry." He accepted the call then held his phone to his ear. "What's up?" He glanced at Ember, but the singer merely continued to lean against the wall of the building. Without her guitar, she didn't even bother to put up a fight against him.

"Tucker's still being grumpy," Sam said, sounding rather unhappy with the whole thing. "I tried talking to him, but I think I would have better luck beating my head against a wall."

"Oh. Uh, I thought this was going to be an emergency." Danny would prefer an emergency to hearing his friend was still mad at him. His shoulders sagged, and his heart felt heavy as he tried to think of why Tucker was so angry.

"I didn't realize superheroes used cell phones." Ember stared at him like he was some peculiar sight she couldn't quite figure out.

"Wait. Was that Ember?" Sam demanded with a hard edge to her voice. "What exactly happened? Tucker and I left, and when I came back to find you, everything was in chaos."

"Ah, yeah, uh, but can we talk about all that later?" Danny winced. He didn't want to get into everything with Ember standing next to him. She might accidentally overhear something which would clue her in on his real identity. "I promise I'll tell you everything."

"Fine." Sam huffed. "Walker's working on organizing a team of officers to look for you and Ember."

"Great," Danny muttered. "Now he's probably going to use this to paint me up even more as a villain."

"Yeah," Sam agreed in a grumble. "Look. Just be careful. Okay?"

"Yeah, I will," Danny said after hearing the concern in his friend's voice.

"And don't let that siren hypnotize you!" Sam added sternly, almost pulling a laugh from her friend.

After their goodbyes were said, Danny hung up the phone and stuffed it back into his suit's pocket. "Sounds like Walker will be on the search for us."

Ember snorted as she pushed away from the wall. "Well, after that explosion, I'm not surprised." Her mouth thinned as she folded her arms. "What was that about anyway? I didn't do it. And I seriously doubt Walker could do something like that."

"That would be a terrifying thought if he could." Danny dreaded to think it, but he had a pretty good idea what happened. "I think that was meant for me. I had-"

"I think we got one!"

Danny froze, his eyes growing wide behind his mask when he heard his father's voice. What was his parents doing out? He shook his head. Of course they would come to the lighting ceremony too. It wasn't that strange. And with the scene made back at the plaza, his parents would naturally search for Phantom. They had mentioned wanting to meet him before, but Danny didn't exactly look forward to that meeting. He grabbed hold of Ember's arm and yanked her closer to him, hiding them with his invisibility.

"They said Phantom showed up before the stage exploded," his mother said with excitement in her voice. "If this is his signature, we might be able to meet him!"

Danny hated how happy his mother sounded at the prospect of meeting Phantom. It made him feel guilty for having to hide the truth from his parents. "We need to get out of here," he whispered to Ember.

"Afraid they'll catch you?" Despite being invisible, Ember was definitely smirking.

Danny scowled. To the rest of the town, his parents might come off as clumsy or goofy, but Danny knew how serious and dedicated his parents could be to their work. His parents were determined to find a ghost, and Danny believed one day they would do it. He just didn't want that ghost to be him or that day to be today.

"I know I'm not the greatest at math," his father said, and Danny nearly laughed out loud. That was something he shared with his father. Math was his worst subject and forced him to work twice as hard. "But doesn't this seem a bit strong for a ghost?"

Sweat gathered on his brow. Danny hoped Ember wasn't able to piece anything together and realize she might be a ghost too. Having her panic now wouldn't be good for either of them. It would be even worse if Officer Walker showed up. Danny almost expected to hear the officer at any moment. He lifted Ember into his arms when he spotted his parents stepping into the alley. Their attention was focused on a device his father held, which must be new as Danny couldn't remember seeing it in their laboratory the last time he went into it.

"I hope this works," Danny whispered, not wanting to press his luck as his parents inched closer to their location.

"What exactly is your plan?" Despite her tough attitude, a hint of fear slipped into Ember's voice.

"Just hold on tight." Danny prayed this worked, since he hadn't tested the ability again after he and Dan leaped out the window to avoid being killed in the explosion. With a bit of concentration, his feet left the ground, and Ember's arms squeezed around his neck in surprise. He might have smirked at her reaction, but he wobbled in the air, struggling to keep steady.

"We're almost on top of it!" his father said excitedly.

Danny gulped. His parents were far too close. He needed to get them out of there now! His parents were almost within arm's reach when he launched into the air, soaring up over the buildings. Ember gasped close to his ear, holding on tightly like she feared he might drop her at any moment. Danny tried to slow down but quickly found them losing altitude. Ember, at least, didn't scream. It took some trial and error before he managed to level them out and fly them off to some place far away from the plaza where they would be safer. He touched down by the fountain in the park then turned them visible again.

"New skill?" Ember questioned as he set her down on her feet.

"That obvious?" Danny winced. But he was thankful he managed to fly. A small part of him had doubted he could do more than float a little. He needed to practice flying more so next time things would go a lot smoother.

"Just a bit." Ember folded her arms with a smirk.

"Well," Danny clapped his hands, "since you haven't broken any laws - I'm pretty sure there aren't any that include hypnotizing people into becoming zombie fans - I suppose I have no choice but to let you go. As long as you keep to your promise to never do this mass mind control again."

"Without that guitar, I can pretty much guarantee I won't be doing any of that again." Ember frowned in thought. "Everything's so much clearer without that guitar, actually. Like this cloud has lifted and I'm finally myself again."

"That's good." Danny grinned. "But what do you plan to do now? I doubt those people will be happy with you abandoning them."

Ember shrugged. "I'm pretty sure they didn't like my rebellious nature anyway. But I guess I'll have to go into hiding for a bit. Maybe even have to change my look and name."

"Well, whatever happens, at least keep in touch with Elle. You're important to her. Don't put her through that worrying and not knowing what happened to you again."

The corner of her mouth twitched like Ember was trying to keep from smirking. "All right, dipstick. I think I can manage to keep in touch."

Danny's expression slowly fell, the color draining from his face. The first time they met and Elle introduced them, Ember had called him, Danny, dipstick. But she couldn't possibly know his identity. His mask was still intact, and he hadn't exhausted his power.

Ember leaned closer, her mouth stretching into a grin. "You kind of gave yourself away, Danny. You were the only one that cared at all about Elle searching for me. And I doubt that stalker walked up to you to tell you about what he saw if you were dressed up like this." She poked a finger at his chest. "Am I wrong?"

"For your sake, it's better if you don't know my real identity."

Ember straightened as she lifted an eyebrow. "You just snapped me out of some crazy obsession thing. And you think I'm going to go around spilling the beans about who you are?" Her mouth pursed, and she obviously took offense to him thinking that.

"It's not that I don't trust you." Danny didn't know Ember too well, though. "But if those people ever got their hands on you again," he frowned, "well, if they can mess with your memory so you can't recall things about them, I wouldn't be surprised if they had ways of getting information out of you. If you know who I really am, that puts not only me at risk but people close to me. Which includes Elle."

Ember slowly absorbed what he said with a nod. "I can understand that. Typical hero stuff." She patted a hand on his shoulder. "But just remember that you're important to Elle too. Don't do anything too dangerous."

Danny breathed out a weak laugh. "I'll try my best not to get into anything I can't handle."

"Then I guess this is where we part ways." Ember stepped back. "See ya around, Phantom." She strolled off down the park's path.

The tension melted out of Danny's body. Ember had figured out who he was! He would need to remember to be more careful in the future. Ember seemed like she wouldn't expose his identity, but if someone else figured it out, they might not be as willing to keep his secret. With a shake of his head, Danny walked toward the exit of the park. His bag was still in Sam's car, but he could have her bring that to him tomorrow. Turning invisible, he headed straight home, knowing he wouldn't be able to maintain his ghost form for too much longer.


	49. Chapter 49

"I still can't believe it," Danny said as he walked down the hall with Sam. "I was flying! And it was awesome!" He couldn't wipe the wide grin from his face. "I still need a little work on it. But just imagine what this means! Instead of walking around in disguise to look for crime taking place. I can fly around above the city, invisible, and it will go a lot faster. I'll be able to check out more places in one night!"

"That's great. Really it is." Sam managed a small smile, but she seemed distracted by something. After she chewed on her lip for a moment, she stopped and turned to face him. "I know you're really excited about getting new abilities and all that. And I'm glad. It'll make things a lot easier on you with crime fighting. But maybe you should tone things down a bit around Tucker." She bit down on her lower lip as she winced, almost like she was expecting him to be angry with her.

Danny frowned. Since Tucker stormed off Saturday night before Ember appeared, Danny hadn't seen or heard from his friend. He had sent texts to Tucker, hoping things would blow over and they could talk about whatever had set his friend off in the first place. But Tucker ignored all his attempts to communicate.

"Were you able to talk to him at all?" Danny still couldn't think of what sparked Tucker's anger. Could things have been building to this recently but he simply hadn't noticed while caught up in his own problems? But why was it only him? Tucker hadn't yelled at Sam.

Sam shook her head as they continued down the hall. "He wouldn't respond to me at all." She released a sigh. "So what happened Saturday? You didn't exactly explain everything when you picked up your bag. You said you would explain everything." Folding her arms, she glared at him, waiting for an answer.

Danny sighed as he raked a hand through his hair. "Well, Ember showed up and started doing the mind controlling thing. I was going to try talking to her until Walker decided to butt in to arrest us."

"So who blew up the stage?"

"If I had to guess, it was probably the madman that tried to kill me at that outdoors sporting goods store."

"What?" Sam shouted with alarm in her violet eyes.

"Shh!" Danny waved his hands for her to lower her voice. Other students in the hall stopped to look at them. Danny grabbed Sam's arm and pulled her down a side hall fairly empty of other students at the moment.

"Sorry." Sam winced, glancing around to see if anyone was paying them too close attention. "But what do you mean there's a madman trying to kill you?"

"I meant to tell you about that, but then things happened." Danny lowered his gaze as he remembered the way Tucker yelled at him before he could tell his friends about the events of that night. "Anyway, I guess the guy was expecting something to happen at the ceremony. Or at least, he figured if anything was going to happen that night, it would be there. So he laid in wait until I revealed myself as Phantom to Ember before attacking."

"I don't like the sound of that." Sam's brow creased, and she stared at him like she worried he would be attacked at any moment by this madman. "And you have no idea who it might be? Or why this guy is trying to kill you?"

Danny shook his head. "I guess it's possible I pissed someone off stopping criminals. But I don't know how I would narrow things down to figure out what criminal I pissed off enough to try to kill me."

"I guess that's the risk of becoming a superhero."

Danny leaned back against the wall. "It's not like I meant to become a superhero. I just wanted to hunt down Jazz's killer. But I can't just turn a blind eye when I see someone robbing a place."

"So no new leads?" Sam joined him in leaning against the wall. She frowned when Danny shook his head. "Maybe the police will have found out something by now."

"Maybe," Danny mumbled with some doubt. "Anyway, let's go find Tucker. We'll never sort things out if he keeps avoiding us." He pushed away from the wall and led the way back to the main hall. "At least Ember is no longer a threat though," he said as they headed toward their lockers. "She can't do that whole mind control without her guitar, and she lost that when we fled from the plaza."

"And you trust her?" Sam frowned with her doubt clear in her expression. She didn't like Ember and clearly wasn't going to trust the singer.

"I think," Danny hesitated, "having that guitar encouraged her obsession. Without it, she was able to think more clearly and realize what she was doing wasn't how she wanted to become famous."

"Sometimes, I think you can be too-" Sam shook her head then paused. She snapped her gaze back to him. "Wait. Obsession?" She stared hard at him, like she was trying to pick up on the thoughts dancing in his head. "You don't think she's a ghost, do you?"

"Possibly." Danny shrugged. "I didn't want to mention it to her though. I worried it might make her freak out, and we don't really need another Mr. Technus on our hands." He had no proof that Ember would go all crazy like Mr. Technus did if she learned she was a ghost, but it was a possibility he thought it better not to risk. "But it seems like it fits. I had the accident in my parents' lab and got these ghost powers. Mr. Technus was in that accident. And who knows what Mr. Masters did to him? But he ended up with ghostly powers too. Ember got involved with some people, who messed with her memories so I couldn't get anything from her, and she ended up with the ability to control people through her music. How can I not think ghost?"

"So you think someone's out there-" Sam bit back her question as they passed the A List at their lockers. She scowled at Paulina and Star standing close to each other and chatting while a redheaded football jock leaned against the lockers next to Star.

"Hey, Danny!" Kwan grinned brightly even while some of the other A Listers groaned about him talking to a loser. "How did that date go?"

"Date?" Sam demanded, snapping her gaze onto him.

Danny laughed nervously. "It was fine. Everything is fine. Time to go. Class and stuff." He pushed Sam down the hall toward their lockers. Once they were out of earshot of the A List, Danny explained, "I ran into the guy who watched Cujo for me after you and Tucker left. It wasn't a date. We just talked for a bit before Ember appeared."

"Right," Sam said flatly, not believing him for a second. "So? How did the date go?"

"Like I said! It wasn't a date!" Despite his efforts, Danny couldn't stop the heat rising to his cheeks. "A-Anyways, it looks like Tucker isn't here." He frowned when they reached their lockers and didn't find their friend waiting for them.

"I guess we'll have to try to catch him at lunch."

Danny nodded, disappointment weighing down heavily on him as his shoulders drooped. They couldn't do anything if Tucker refused to speak to them. "I'll see you at lunch then." He grabbed what he needed from his locker. Then after their goodbyes, he headed for his first class. When he reached the classroom, he dropped into his seat with a tired sigh.

"So you didn't even tell your friends about your new boyfriend?"

At the question, Danny jumped. "It wasn't really a date," he said, growing annoyed with having to repeat himself. "We just happened to run into each other, and he offered to buy me a hot chocolate. That's it. We're just acquaintances."

"Is that what he thinks?"

Danny's brow creased, and he gave Dash a quick glance over, wondering from where this concern came. "We haven't even talked about anything like that yet. I mean, mostly we just met because of the dog I wanted to adopt, so that was pretty much what we talked about. And why exactly is this your business?"

Dash shrugged, pretending to be indifferent about the conversation. "Just thinking you should be careful with someone older than you." He pulled out his notebook for class, and Danny couldn't miss the sketch of Phantom slapped across the cover. It looked like the one he had seen Dash sketching before but a more final version of it. Dash being a fan of his alter ego was still an odd concept for Danny.

A small chuckle almost escaped him when Danny thought about how Dash would react if he appeared before the jock and asked him to design some sketches for Phantom merchandise. Dash would probably be speechless, if he didn't simply faint from shock first. For someone who liked to use his hands more for punching things, Dash was pretty good at drawing.

"What?" Dash snapped, scowling at him. "What's that dopey face for?"

Danny shook his head. "Nothing. Sorry. Just thinking about something." He turned back to the front of the room as Mr. Green began talking about today's lesson. While he jotted down notes, his mind kept wandering back to everything that happened. What set off Tucker's anger? Was it really okay for him to let Ember leave like that? What if the people who approached her got their hands on her again and twisted her to do their will and use her mind control for something more sinister than just building a following of zombie fans? Who was the madman trying to kill him? Was it a criminal he angered simply by stopping him or her? Or was he getting close to finding out something about this organization that seemed to be behind everything?

Danny still had a headache from thinking about those questions when he stepped out of his last class before lunch. He rubbed at his temples as he turned down the hall to meet up with Sam, and hopefully Tucker. Unfortunately, the path to his locker from his previous class involved passing the counselor's office. He hated walking past the door in case Ms. Spectra popped out from nowhere and tried to drag him into her office for a session. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who didn't want to be caught by the counselor because the hall was empty. He crept past the door, holding his breath as he prayed Ms. Spectra wouldn't find him.

After he was past the door, Danny released a breath of relief. He continued walking as the tension melted out of him and he could relax. Then a noise made him stop. It was a soft sound like a sob. He hurried a few steps to a side hall and rounded the corner. At first, he wasn't sure what to say or do. He never would have expected to accidentally come across Paulina while she was crying. Should he say something? Should he just back up and run away before she realized he was ever there?

"Did something happen?" Danny walked over to Paulina then sat down next to her and leaned back against the wall. Paulina lifted her head, and tear tracks stained her cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy. "Of course, you don't have to tell me anything," he added, glancing up at the ceiling. "But sometimes it helps to tell someone."

"I took your advice." Paulina sniffled as she wiped a thumb under one eye. "I decided to talk to someone."

"I want to say that's great." Danny winced. "But I'm guessing things didn't go so well."

Paulina released a watery laugh. "Not at all. Your sister-" The corner of her mouth twitched. "I really miss talking to her. She tried to be understanding, and she tried to help _me_ understand. But when I tried to talk to Ms. Spectra about it, she just made me feel _horrible_ about myself. She said I'm just seventeen. Like that somehow invalidates the idea that I have zero sexual desire towards anyone. I just haven't met the 'right person,' she says, so I shouldn't label myself as asexual. Well, I _do_ like someone. I don't have any sexual interest, but I do like her, even if I can't do anything about it."

"Wow," Danny breathed out, and Paulina narrowed her eyes at him. "No, no!" He held up his hands. "I'm just surprised that you actually said anything about it to me." He scratched at his cheek with one finger. "I think it's good that you want to talk to someone about this. I struggled with being bisexual, and it really helped to confide in someone." He frowned as he stared at Paulina. "Ms. Spectra clearly isn't that good at counseling. You know better than anyone else what it is you feel. If you don't feel anything sexual toward a person, no one else has the right to tell you that you're wrong or need to find the right person or whatever." He drew up his legs and rested his folded arms over his knees. "But, um, why can't you do anything about the person you like?"

"You really don't understand anything about how the A List works, do you?" Paulina shook her head with a faint smile.

"Yeah, yeah." Danny rolled his eyes. "Valerie already told me that."

"I have been queen of this school basically since freshmen year. How do you think people will react if it got out that I'm asexual?"

Danny shrugged. "Well, I don't look at you any differently. You're still Paulina to me."

Paulina shook her head. "Not everyone is as accepting as you. I doubt the rest of the A List would be as accepting and welcoming. Then you add on that the person I like happens to be my best friend who is already dating one of the football jocks. I don't know that Star would be happy to know that I like her."

Danny winced. "Liking a friend can be difficult. And yes, ha, ha, you all made jokes about Sam and me, and yes, I did briefly have feelings for her. And it definitely made things awkward. Should I tell her? Should I not? What if she didn't return my feelings? What if she _did_? I didn't want to lose her as a friend. So I can understand at least that part of not being able to tell Star. But I think the most important thing for you to know is that you're not weird. There's nothing wrong with you. I know not everyone will accept you for who you are, but you should know that there _are_ people who will accept you."

Paulina gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "Corny loser." But she smiled. "I think Jazz would be proud to know that she rubbed off on you a bit."

Danny shook his head. "I think she would know what to say a lot more than I do. She was good at this sort of thing."

"You're not exactly bad yourself." Paulina bumped into him, giving him a small nudge with her elbow. Her smile faltered a touch then fell completely at the same time a chill tickled the back of Danny's neck. Her gaze focused on something down the hall. "Um, your friend is looking a little," she bit her lip searching for the right word, "murderous."

Danny twisted around, ready to sigh at the thought of Sam being angry at him for talking with Paulina. But it wasn't Sam. Tucker stood at the end of the hall, his posture strange. Even with the distance between them, Danny could see an odd gleam in his friend's eyes. He stood up slowly, the cold from his ghost sense gradually increasing.

"Paulina, you should probably get out of here," Danny told her quietly over his shoulder. "I need to have a chat with Tuck, and I don't want you getting caught up in it." He waited until Paulina stood and hurried toward the other end of the hall. "So are we finally going to-"

The punch connected with the side of his head before Danny could even register that Tucker had moved. He stumbled back a few steps before catching his balance again. His vision blurred for a moment as the world spun. Tucker shouldn't have that much strength. Danny blinked to clear his vision then lifted his gaze back to his friend, who stood before him. Up close, he understood the reason Tucker's eyes had seemed strange. A red glow bled into their natural green color. But his eyes weren't the only thing that was wrong. His body was bigger, his shoulders broader and more muscular. Green bloomed across his angry face.

"Tuck, what-"

A much too large hand grabbed his throat then slammed him into the wall. Danny gasped as he clawed at the hand. This wasn't Tucker. This couldn't be Tucker. No matter how angry his friend was, Danny couldn't believe Tucker would attack him like this.

"You," Tucker growled as he leaned in close, his breath smelling like something rotting, "are not better than me." The hand tightened around his throat, and Danny's vision darkened around the edges, but he definitely heard what sounded like a woman laughing.


	50. Chapter 50

This was dangerous. Danny clawed at the hand around his throat, trying to pry it free. He didn't dare use his ghost powers while they were at school. His costume was in his bag, but he couldn't risk changing into it. Even if Danny got away, Tucker probably wouldn't give him the chance to sneak off and become Phantom. Other students could stumble across him while he was in the middle of changing. To protect his identity, he had to deal with Tucker as just Danny.

"Tuck," Danny wheezed, "this isn't you." He had known Tucker for most of his life. They were friends who shared everything with each other. They got angry with each other at times, but Tucker would never turn on him like this. Something had to be manipulating his friend. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Tucker repeated then released a low chuckle. "Because I'm done," he lifted Danny up, grabbing hold him by the leg and lifting him over his head, "being second place to you!" He threw Danny down the hall like he weighed nothing at all.

Danny slammed into the wall at the other end of the hall and dropped to the floor with a groan. The Tucker he knew would never be able to accomplish such a feat. Tucker wasn't exactly known for strength, and he never could lift Danny over his head, let alone throw him the entire length of the hall. Wincing, Danny struggled to his feet. It hurt worse being tossed around as a human, but at least the healing factor carried over from his ghost half. What had happened to Tucker? Why was he acting this way? Danny wasn't sure of the answers, but he needed to figure out a way to stop his friend before it was too late.

The hall was empty, Danny noted after a quick scan. He could get away with a little ghost power then. His eyes shifted to glowing green as he stared down the hall at his friend leisurely stalking toward him like a predator approaching its prey. The gruesome makeover wasn't the only reason Danny gulped fearfully. Much like when he stopped Poindexter at the Nasty Burger, he saw malicious looking ghosts circling his friend's head. They were fewer in number this time, but behind Tucker, a dark shape loomed with eyes gleaming red.

"It's always Danny, isn't it?" whispered the shadowy figure. The voice was feminine and familiar. "Why should everything always come so easily for him? There's nothing special about him. You're better than he is." The shadow placed her hands upon Tucker's shoulders. "Won't you feel better if he didn't exist anymore?"

Panic gripped Danny like an icy vice as Tucker's face twisted with murderous intent. And maybe he was just seeing things, but Tucker seemed to grow another few inches in size. Danny barely managed to jump out of the way when Tucker attacked. His friend's fist smashed into the wall, leaving behind a spider web of cracks.

"Tuck," Danny said cautiously as he backed up a couple of steps, "I know I've been a bit obsessed with my own stuff lately, but this isn't the way to deal with things. Whatever's bugging you, you can talk to me. I'm always here for you. You know that."

"When was the last time he was ever there for you?" the shadow questioned.

" _I'm_ the one who's always there for _you_." Tucker snarled, drawing back his lips to show off his teeth. "I listen to you every time you have a problem. But you never make time for me. You never care about what's important to me. Everything always has to be about you or it's not worth your time."

"That's not true!" Danny glared at the shadow. The ghost was winning this fight. He needed to get through to his friend and break the ghost's control over him. "You know it's not. If I didn't care about what's important to you, why would I offer to help you rebuild the robot for your club? I know I'm not smart when it comes to building robots, but I could do what you tell me. The work would go faster with another person to help."

"You only offered to make yourself feel better. You," Tucker pointed a finger at him, "never actually intended to help me. You were too busy playing-"

"You think it was all fun and games for me?" Danny shouted, anger rising up to push back fear and worry. "Because it's not. I don't enjoy not being able to sleep because my body hurts everywhere or because I have nightmares about everything. I close my eyes and I see Jazz dead in my arms again. I hate it, and there's nothing I can do to get rid of that image. That's why I'm doing all of this. Because I can forget for a while."

"And what exactly have you found out about your sister's killer?" Tucker stepped closer, his new height allowing him to loom over Danny. The shadow behind him grinned in vicious triumph, like she believed she had already won this battle. "You've let it all go to your head. You've completely forgot why you started this in the first place."

"I haven't forgotten anything!" Danny squeezed his fists at his side, frustrated that he couldn't seem to get through to his friend and shake the ghost's control on him. "There hasn't exactly been a whole lot of clues to go on to find out who killed Jazz. But, Tuck," his expression softened, pleading for his friend to understand and come back to him, "I can't do any of this without you. You're my best friend, and I need you. You're the one that broke me out of my shell when we first met up years ago. If I had never met you, I would be some friendless loser right now. I would never have become friends with Sam without you. You've always been like a brother to me. I know you want answers about what happened to Mr. Technus. I want answers too. If we work together, maybe we'll stand a better chance of finding those answers. What do you say?" Danny held out his hand to his friend. "Can we do this together?"

Something changed in Tucker's gaze, his eyes shifting back to their normal green. Danny held back his hopeful smile, not wanting to celebrate victory before it was actually achieved. There was still the chance that he failed and Tucker would punch him again. His head still ached from the last one, though luckily his vision didn't stay blurry long.

"No!" shouted the shadow. "Don't listen to his lies! He's just trying to save himself."

Tucker hissed in pain when her sharp claws dug into his shoulders. He stumbled back a step, holding his head in his hands. His eyes flickered between green and red, and his face scrunched up in pain, like he was fighting an internal battle, struggling with his own mind. Danny gritted his teeth. He couldn't let the ghost take control again when he thought he was finally breaking her hold on his friend.

"Tucker!" Danny said strongly and firmly. "Don't let her twist your thoughts! She _wants_ you to be hate me. That's how she keeps control over you!"

"Lies!"

Tucker groaned, curling in on himself. "Shut up!" He dropped to his knees and bent over with his hands clapped over his ears.

Danny's eyes widened and the shadow backed away as smoky tendrils rose into the air from Tucker's back. His friend slowly shrank back to normal size, but the green mists coming off him coalesced into a large mass taking on a monstrous shape, looking too much like Tucker had only moments ago. Danny gulped, not wanting to fight that, especially if it was the sum of Tucker's hatred toward him. How was he to even stop something like that?

"T-Tucker!" Danny rushed over to his friend then pulled him away from the raging ghost of hatred and the shadow creature. He kept himself between them and his friend. They wouldn't get to Tucker ever again! He would make sure of it. His glare remained firm, even as the ghost roared angrily at him, showing off its sharp teeth.

"That was a disappointing show," the shadow muttered, scowling at Danny. "I was certain he would crush you into dust."

"You obviously don't know anything about having a strong bond with someone," Danny snapped back.

The shadow shrugged indifferently. "I'll make a note of that for next time, though I doubt they'll care about it in their research."

"Danny!" The shout came from nearby.

"And that's my cue to leave." A ring of dark fire wrapped around the shadow and the ghost. Then with a puff of smoke they both vanished.

Danny remained tense, glaring at the spot where they had been until he spotted Sam rounding the cornering into the hall. "Sam?" His body relaxed, his eyes shifting back to normal after he blinked.

"Ugh," Tucker groaned. "My head feels like the jocks have been using it to practice field goals. And is that really what I looked like? Because yikes!"

Danny drew his friend into a tight hug while Sam jogged over to them. A minute later, Lancer appeared at the end of the hall, looking winded from running. "I'm just glad you're back," he said as relief washed over him. "You are back, right?" A hiccup of panic washed over him. "There's none of that ghost thing lingering, is there?"

"I don't think so?" Tucker wheezed a little. "You can stop," he patted at Danny's shoulder, "hugging so tightly."

"Whoops!" Danny released his friend with an embarrassed flush on his cheeks.

"What happened?" Sam demanded, folding her arms as she glanced between the two of them. "Paulina came running into the cafeteria in a panic. Saying something about you trying to kill each other or something."

"I would like to know the answer to that myself," Lancer said, drawing himself up to appear as the stern adult, though he was still breathing quite hard.

"Uh," Danny glanced at Tucker, who seemed as lost for an excuse as he felt, "just, you know, friend stuff." He laughed awkwardly under Lancer's stare. "We had an argument, emotions ran high, but it's all good now. We worked things out." He threw an arm around Tucker's shoulders and drew his friend against him. "Right?"

"Y-Yeah!" Tucker agreed, forcing on a smile. He still looked a little green in the face, but Danny thought it was more from being sick about seeing the ghost possessing him. "We totally worked everything out. Paulina was just being dramatic and over exaggerating everything."

Lancer's eyes narrowed a fraction, and Danny feared their teacher would buy their lame explanation. "Just keep in mind that if your arguments turn into fights on school property, that you could both end up suspended from school." After he gave them one final teacherly glare, he turned and walked back down the hall, holding one hand to his side like it hurt.

Once their teacher was gone, Sam turned on them, her mouth pressed thin. "Okay. What _really_ happened?"

Danny glanced toward Tucker. "I'm surprised the whole school didn't come racing over here at the mention of a fight."

"Lancer threatened everyone to stay in the cafeteria or he'd hand out detentions. I was already out the door though." Sam placed her hands on her hips and glared at her friends. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Well," Danny rubbed at his neck, "maybe you should explain some of what happened." He frowned at Tucker. "I think I'm missing some of the details of what exactly happened."

"I'm not sure I even know." Tucker held a hand to his forehead, confusion in his expression. "I was feeling down about stuff with everything that's been happening. The explosion. Our robot being damaged. Mr. Technus being in a coma. Mr. Technus seeking revenge against Mr. Masters. Jazz dying. So I went to talk to Ms. Spectra."

"You didn't tell her anything about Danny, did you?" Sam demanded, her eyes growing wide with the same panic Danny felt at hearing the news.

"What? No!" Tucker gawked at her in disbelief. "Come on! Do you really think I would put Danny in danger like that? No, I just talked about my feelings. But it wasn't really helping because I just kept feeling angrier and angrier."

"Yeah, I don't think Ms. Spectra is the best counselor there is," Danny said, thinking about what Paulina told him earlier.

"Then today, I don't know." Tucker shrugged. "It was just, like, it all exploded, and I couldn't contain the anger anymore. Everything just became this blur of redness."

"And then you started attacking me." Danny frowned as all the pieces fell into place. He didn't like the picture it was painting. "I think Ms. Spectra isn't human." He shrank back when his friends turned their eyes onto him and staring like he just announced something unbelievable, like the sky was pink. "No, seriously! Think about it? Tucker goes to her and ends feels worse and worse until he because this hulking monster of hatred? I didn't see her, but there was definitely some shadowy ghost whispering to you to kill me. How can I not jump to the conclusion that Ms. Spectra might be a ghost? That would explain why I kept getting that bad vibe around her."

"But what do we do?" Sam asked. "It's not like we can go to the principal or something and tell her all this. We have no proof either. We'd just sound crazy."

Danny frowned, deflating slightly. He was wary about confronting her directly. If that shadow was Ms. Spectra, Danny didn't like the idea of giving her any clues about his ghost powers. "But something about it all worries me. The shadow ghost, mentioned something about research. Like this whole thing with Tucker was just an experiment. What exactly was she trying to accomplish? Who is she working for? What exactly is their goal in all of this?"

"Too many questions," Tucker groaned, rubbing his head. "I still feel like my brain's been through a meat grinder."

"This, Tuck, is what I'm dealing with all day long." Danny sighed. "Every time I look for clues, I end up with a million more questions. I don't even know if half this stuff is even related to anything else. I wish I could put it all together and figure out all the answers, but everything is just one giant messy pile of information that may or may not be relevant to anything else. I swear I'm trying but none of this easy."

"I never thought about that." Tucker lowered his gaze in shame.

"And don't forget there's someone trying to kill him too," Sam added helpfully.

"What?" Tucker's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets.

"Can we eat lunch first?" Danny asked, holding grumbling stomach. "I'd rather not discuss the crazy person trying to kill me when we're going to eat."

"All right," Sam agreed as they walked down the hall. "But what are we going to do about Ms. Spectra?"

"I wish I could say not think about her ever," Danny groaned. "I don't even like going near her. It would be great if we could keep other students from talking to her, but I'm not sure how that would be possible." His friends made noises of agreement and thoughtfulness, but none of them could think of an answer at the moment.


	51. Chapter 51

Danny stared at the ceiling in his room. Morning had come and was growing into the afternoon, but he didn't want to get up yet. It felt like the last few weeks had stretched into an eternity. Now it was finally winter break where he could get in some rest without school taking up most of his day. His teachers decided to be nice and only gave out a small amount of homework to do over the break, which Danny knew he could finish up in a day or two, depending on how lazy he was.

He reached up and rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes. Neither his friends nor he could think of what to do about the Ms. Spectra being an evil ghost thing, but when they came to school the next day, they learned the counselor had disappeared without a word. Her office was cleaned out of everything except the desk. Lancer, at least, was in a good mood about it since he had never liked Ms. Spectra.

Danny wasn't entirely sure how he felt about all of this. He was glad Ms. Spectra left the school because he wouldn't have to worry about her corrupting anymore students like she did with Tucker. Or hurt students the way she had with Paulina. No longer being harassed by her was only a small bonus. But he couldn't feel completely relieved. Ms. Spectra was no longer at Casper High, but she could turn up at other high schools and continue her work. Thinking about it all was giving him a headache. All high schools were out for the break, so for the moment, he could put her out of his mind.

When a wet nose pressed against his cheek, Danny pulled his hands away from his eyes. He sat up with a laugh and scratched behind Cujo's ears. "Hey, boy." Danny grinned as Cujo barked. "I know. I know. Just because I'm on break doesn't mean I should spend all day in bed." He climbed out of bed and walked over to his closet to grab some clothes. When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw Cujo happily getting comfortable on his bed. "Oh, I see how it is. You just wanted my bed." His mouth twitched in a small smile as Cujo yawned widely before flopping his head down over his paws.

Shaking his head, Danny changed into some warm clothes, tugging on a hooded sweatshirt over his turtleneck. When he passed his bed, he patted the puppy on his head then left his bedroom. Stretching an arm upward, he walked down the stairs and turned to head into the kitchen. He was surprised he didn't hear his parents at all, with it being close to noon at this point. A note sat on the kitchen table, and Danny walked over to pick it up and read it.

"Went out to run some errands," Danny mumbled as he looked over his mother's handwriting. "If you go out, be back by dinner." The corner of his mouth curled up when he saw his father's writing under his mother's neat note. "And don't go looking for your presents!" He chuckled as he dropped the note back onto the table. "You hide them in the same place every year."

With a shake of his head, he walked over to the refrigerator to find something to eat. He and Jazz had figured out where his parents kept their Christmas presents when he was seven. At that time, Danny was eager to open them all and see what he was getting for Christmas, but Jazz, always the mature one, insisted they left the presents alone. She explained something about how it would lessen the joy of opening the presents on Christmas if they already knew what they were getting. Danny hadn't really understood it, but he did as Jazz told him since she always seemed so smart and reasonable to him. He smiled a little at the memory now as he ate his breakfast of oatmeal. It still hurt, an empty pang in his chest, but he couldn't allow himself to forget things about his sister simply because thinking about it hurt.

After finishing his breakfast, Danny carried his bowl over to the sink. In the middle of washing his dishes, a thought struck him. He had come up against a few ghostly enemies now. Or at least, he thought they were ghosts. It seemed like the logical explanation to him. If he came across more ghostly enemies in the future, he would need a way to stop them. The police wouldn't be able to fight against ghosts, let alone be able to contain them. Danny needed a way to trap the ghosts so they couldn't endanger anymore lives. But-

Danny stood up straighter, his eyes widening. When he was still uncertain of what exactly Mr. Technus was, he had asked his father if he invented anything to capture ghosts. His father said they had come up with an invention, but without a ghost to test it, they couldn't know if it would work. Danny finished up with the dishes then jogged over to the door to his parents' laboratory. The next ghost he came up against would be an excellent time to test out the invention.

Taking a deep breath, Danny phased through the door and walked down the stairs. When he reached the computer, he immediately shifted through files and notes and blueprints until he found what he was looking for among all of his parents' inventions and research. He grinned then laughed as he read over the information on the invention.

"Only Dad would think to design it to look like a thermos." Danny closed out of everything so his parents wouldn't realize he had come into their laboratory. Then he set about finding where his parents had placed the finished product. The thermos was on a shelf with a few other finished inventions. Danny picked it up, turning it over in his hands. It didn't look like much, easily mistaken for an average thermos. If the average thermos had silver metal siding. At least, it was small and easy to carry, and most people wouldn't look twice at it.

But would it actually work to capture ghosts? All of his parents' inventions theoretically worked on ghosts, but they were never able to truly test any of them since they hadn't found any ghosts. Danny frowned as he stared at the thermos. He wanted to tell his parents ghosts existed, that he had seen them. He wanted to help his parents to achieve their lifelong goal of meeting a ghost and learning even more from it, especially after seeing their disappointment when they returned home Saturday night having failed to find the ghost their invention detected. They looked like someone just announced their favorite jumpsuit supplier was going out of business. But doing so meant he would have to reveal how he knew what he did, and he didn't think he was ready for that. How would his parents react? Would they let him continue his activities as Phantom?

Danny couldn't stop being Phantom. It was more, now, than just searching for Jazz's killer. Someone was out there doing things to people, turning them into ghosts. Mr. Masters was a part of it, if his involvement in what happened to Mr. Technus said anything, but he wasn't alone in what was happening. Two men had approached Ember. Even if Danny assumed one of them was Mr. Masters, that still left one man unknown.

"I'm on vacation," Danny muttered to himself, rubbing his forehead. He planned to keep up with his activities as Phantom, but thinking too hard about questions with no answers gave him headaches. With the thermos in hand, he jogged back up the stairs and phased through the locked door.

When he stepped into the kitchen, he checked the time on the microwave since he planned on meeting up with his friends. He made sure there was food and water in Cujo's bowls then grabbed his bag and walked down the hall to the front door. Cujo was apparently enjoying his time sleeping on Danny's bed, getting to sprawl out without another body in the way. Danny smiled lightly as he stuffed the thermos into his bag then stepped out of the house.

The town had calmed down since Ember appeared at the tree lighting ceremony, and the explosion in the plaza. Danny hoped she was somewhere safe. He hadn't heard anything from her, which could be good or bad. Ember knew his secret. If the organization she had got involved with caught her, they could try to pull that information from her. The idea of the bad guys knowing who he was while he knew nothing about who they were terrified him. He _needed_ Ember to be safe, but he _wanted_ her to be safe for her own sake. Whatever they had done to her, it was probably a good thing she didn't remember. If it was anything like what happened to him - Danny shuddered at the memories flashing through his mind.

Danny passed several people as he walked to the Nasty Burger where he planned on meeting his friends. Many of them seemed to be last minutes shoppers, hurrying to get presents before the stores sold out of what they wanted to get. Danny winced when he realized he still had to get some gifts. He didn't have a lot of time to look around for presents when he had homework to do and tutoring and his activities as Phantom. Now that school was out for the break, he would have more time to go shopping. He hoped he could find good gifts for his parents and friends.

Something across the street caught his attention. He only noticed it out of the corner of his eye, but he immediately turned his head toward it. Then he stopped in his tracked, staring as the costumed man strolled down the street with a garbage bag over his shoulder like there was nothing unusual about the way he dressed. The people the mercenary passed moved out of his way, giving him looks of disgust, confusion, and concern. A mother quickly pulled her young son away, though the boy pointed at the mercenary with a smile.

He was up to something. Danny didn't know what, but he was certain Dan couldn't be up to anything good. After ducking down an alley, he checked for anyone who might be watching. Then he quickly changed into his costume. He had to move fast if he didn't want to lose the mercenary. Once he was ready, Danny shifted to invisible, taking Dan's own advice about not charging into things recklessly. He would learn more about what Dan was up to if he secretly followed after the mercenary.

Throwing his bag over one shoulder, he jogged to the end of the alley then hurried down the street to catch up with Dan. Luckily, the mercenary had continued straight down the street without turning onto another one. When Danny caught up to the mercenary, Dan had stopped to crouch down before a little girl. Danny hesitated, the sight of the costumed mercenary with a child too bizarre. The girl had puffy eyes, her soft bronze cheeks stained with tears. Her ebony hair was drawn back into twin pigtails that fell down the back of her purple coat. Danny's brow creased as he tilted his head. What was going on? Why was Dan talking to this girl? He almost felt sick when he considered Dan was hired to kill an innocent child.

Then Dan dumped his garbage at the base of the tree next to them as he stood. After a moment to prepare, he jumped, catching the lowest branch. He swung himself onto it like some kind of acrobat or gymnast. Danny gawked as he walked closer, tilting his head up to watch the mercenary's progress. What was he doing? Then Dan dropped back to the ground, and Danny jumped back in surprise.

"Here you are," Dan said, crouching down before the girl again. In his arms was a small gray kitten, shivering and meowing.

"Thank you, Mister!" The girl grinned like she hadn't been crying two seconds ago as she took the kitten from the mercenary's arms. Then she trotted off down the street with her blue rain boots slapping against the sidewalk.

Dan remained crouching even after she was gone. "I know you're there."

Danny tensed, his breath catching in his throat. How could the mercenary know he was there? Did he have something like Danny's ghost sense?

"You made a noise just then," Dan explained in a quiet murmur. "When I jumped down. You moved and it made a sound." He turned his head in Danny's general direction. "Up until that point, you were doing really well with the whole tailing me thing. I didn't even know you were there until just a moment ago."

Danny licked his lips. Could he still play this like he wasn't there? Maybe the mercenary would think he was going crazy or something. "So it wasn't just an act?" The question floated around his mind, and he wanted the answer. "You weren't just playing nice to make me think you aren't some cold hearted killer?"

Dan snatched up his bag again then stood. "You really don't want to think any differently of me, do you?" He tossed the bag over his shoulder. "Follow me."

"Where?" Danny hesitated to follow after Dan when he walked down the street.

"If I told you, that would ruin the surprise." Dan was definitely grinning behind his mask.

Danny scowled at his back then jogged to catch up with the mercenary. He didn't like the idea of going somewhere, alone, with Dan, but his curiosity was buzzing, trying to figure out what Dan might have in mind. "So is kitty rescuing a norm for you?" He folded his arms as he walked.

"Are you going to tell me you wouldn't have done the same if you came across a little girl crying?"

Danny pressed his mouth as thin as possible. He couldn't deny it. If he was in Dan's place, he would have climbed the tree to rescue the kitten. Or flown up, because it would be easier for him.

After they walked around for a while, Dan finally turned up the walkway to a brick building where a handful of children were playing on the small amount of lawn space. When they spotted the mercenary, they stopped their game of tag and jogged up to him. Dan chuckled as he patted a head here and there.

"Did you bring us something?" one boy asked eagerly, his brown eyes bright.

"Ms. Lonsdale said you're not supposed to ask that," another boy said.

Dan patted his garbage bag. "Of course I did!" Then he bowed slightly and held up a finger to the children. "But these gifts are for Christmas so you'll have to wait." Some of the children pouted and groaned in disappointed, but other children looked excited about having a gift for Christmas. "Be good or Ms. Lonsdale might decide to withhold your gifts." Dan placed a hand on his hip and gave the illusion of sternly staring at the children. "Now go play!" He shooed the children off.

"What exactly is this?" Danny asked quietly as he followed Dan to the door of the building. He had an idea tickling just at the edge of his mind but almost couldn't believe it to be true.

"They're orphans," Dan explained, letting them into the building. "Ms. Lonsdale looks after them, but it isn't always easy. Money can be tight. I try to help out. Give her some money, buy some supplies and clothes I think they'll need. Or like now, giving them Christmas presents they would otherwise probably not get."

"And you've been doing this for a while?" Danny tried to keep the surprise out of his voice, but it was difficult.

"Couple of years now. I spend time here when I can." Dan twisted his head around, and Danny assumed he was grinning. "Still think I'm heartless?"

Danny bristled, but learning more about Dan outside his mercenary activities was making it difficult to completely hate him. He didn't approve of Dan's job, and never would, but Dan was using some of his money for something good by helping these orphans. Maybe Dan wasn't the completely heartless monster Danny had originally thought he was.


	52. Chapter 52

Danny tugged at the collar of his shirt as he followed his parents. After he ran into Dan, he had barely enough time to meet up with his friends for shopping before he had to be home by dinner time as his mother wrote in the note she left. Thankfully, he managed to find what he needed for everyone, splitting up briefly from his friends so they get each other gifts without the others seeing what they were getting.

Sam and Tucker weren't too pleased about his late arrival and gave him a few smacks to show their displeasure. Danny smiled in amusement as he remembered this friends' reaction when he finally met up with them. He managed to quell their anger by showing them the thermos his parents invented. Naturally, there was some doubt about whether it would actually work since it had never been tested.

"Hey, Danny, turn into a ghost!" Tucker grinned while holding up the thermos. "Let's test this baby out!"

While he wanted to know if it would work before any future battles against someone who might be a ghost, Danny didn't relish the idea of being trapped inside the thermos himself. What if it did work? And what if they couldn't free him afterward? Thinking about being stuck inside something so small and cramped made him feel claustrophobic.

He left out his encounter with Dan when he talked to his friends. He felt even more confused than ever about the mercenary after their trip to the orphanage. Dan was - Danny didn't know. An enigma of sorts? It would all be so much easier on him if Dan wasn't a mercenary who killed for money. He shook the thoughts from his mind, not needing the distraction as they approached the front door and his father rang the bell.

Danny stared up at the house. He had come here a number of times already, but it was strange coming dressed in his suit. When his parents told him where they would be having dinner, Danny didn't think a suit would be necessary, but his parents insisted he dress appropriately. Thankfully, he had the one Sam gave him to wear, and his mother had cleaned and ironed it for tonight.

"I still can't believe he called us up," his mother said as they waited for someone to answer the door. "It just seems so out of the blue after all these years."

The door opened before any of either Danny or his father could respond. Carmina bowed to them as she held the door open for them to enter.

"May I take your coats?" Camarina inquired while his parents marveled over the front hall of the house.

Before, Danny eagerly wished to spend a dinner with Mr. Masters in hopes of picking the man's mind over the space projects being worked on at Axion Labs. Now, he dreaded the idea of sharing a meal with the man. Shrugging off his coat, he frowned as he looked around the hall. Could he find out anything about what happened to Mr. Technus if he snooped around the house? He doubted he would get much of a chance to sneak away and explore on his own, even with the excuse of going to the bathroom. He wouldn't be able to stay away long without the others questioning his absence.

"Ah, you're early," Mr. Masters said, strolling into the hall as Carmina hung up their coats in the hall closet. He dressed casually, for him, in simple slacks and a cream colored sweater. He so looked normal that Danny could almost believe he was just a simple business man who cared for his daughter. Except he knew it was just a lie.

"V-man!" his father greeted with a bright grin as he went to hug the man like it hadn't been years since they last saw each other. Danny caught a flinch in Mr. Masters' expression when his father drew him into a big bear hug, but Mr. Masters managed to cover it up quickly with a fake laugh as he patted the larger man on the arm.

"We brought some wine," his mother announced, holding up the bottle, when her husband finally released Mr. Masters.

"Ah, Maddie." Mr. Masters smiled, taking her free hand. Then he laid a quick peck of a kiss to the back of her hand. "You're looking as lovely as ever."

Danny didn't like seeing Mr. Masters act like a charming man toward his parents. And was Mr. Masters _flirting_ with his mother? After witnessing what Mr. Masters did to Mr. Technus' robot, Danny worried about why the man was laying on the charm to his parents. Did he have some move up his sleeve? Did he want something with his parents' ghost research? Because of what happened with Mr. Technus?

"Isn't this great?" His father threw his arms over his wife and Mr. Masters' shoulders, hugging the both of them to him. "The three of us back together again! It's like we're back in college again!"

"Though I must admit, I was surprised to receive your invitation to dinner," his mother confessed.

"Ah," Mr. Masters only showed mild discomfort at being pinned to Danny's father's side, "since your son has been tutoring my daughter, he always politely declines my invitation to stay for dinner. I wanted to thank him for helping my daughter with her school work. I thought this would be a good opportunity for you all to come over for a dinner."

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Danny tore his gaze away from the three adults. Elle walked down the stairs in a simple crimson dress reaching to her knees with a flared out skirt. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail with the end in a slight curl. Her eyes lit up when she saw Danny, and she smiled as she hurried down the remaining stairs and over to him.

"This," Mr. Masters said, extracting himself from Danny's father's hold, "is my daughter Elle."

Elle curtsied. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton."

"Oh, she is just precious!" his mother said. "But, please, just call us Jack and Maddie. No need to be so formal."

Elle nodded. "Um, would it be okay if Danny and I talked?" She turned to her father.

"Dinner won't be ready for a little while." Mr. Masters placed a hand to his chin like he was considering her question.

"Oh, let the kids go," his father said. "It'll give us the chance to catch up. I bet they don't want to hear our boring stories."

"I suppose then it would be all right," Mr. Masters agreed slowly.

With a giant grin, Elle grabbed hold of Danny's hand then dragged him toward the stairs. "We'll be back soon," she assured her father as they headed up to her bedroom.

Danny didn't entirely like leaving his parents alone with Mr. Masters. They didn't know the _real_ Mr. Masters. But he knew they could take of themselves. His mother would be no pushover if it came to a fight, but Danny hoped it didn't come to that. He turned away from those thoughts as he followed Elle into her bedroom.

"I know it's early, but I thought I should give you your gift since you're here now." Elle walked over to her desk and reached into a draw to pull out a present.

Danny chuckled as she held out the present in pale blue with silvery snowflakes wrapping paper to him. "I guess we had the same thought." He dug a hand into his pocket then brought out the small gift he brought with him. Comparing the sizes, he felt a little guilty as the present she got him was several times larger. They exchanged the gifts.

"Hm." Elle shook the small gift next to her ear. "If I didn't know better, I would think this was jewelry. But if it was, that might be setting a wrong impression."

"Oh, no." Danny shook his head, his cheeks warming a touch at her implication. "Nothing like that, I swear. I saw this, and it made me think of you. That's all."

Elle laughed. "I was teasing you." She tore off the festive wrapping paper to get to the powder blue box beneath it. "So jewelry, huh?" Her eyebrows rose curiously as she opened the box. "Oh wow!" She lifted the silver chain from the box and brought the guitar pendant up to eye level.

"Look at the back," Danny told her, fighting back a grin.

Elle turned the pendant around to see the back of the guitar. "Dream big," she mumbled as she read the inscription Danny had added to the pendant.

"Just," Danny shrugged, "so you know there's always someone rooting for you to reach whatever your dreams are."

Elle threw her arms around his neck and drew him in for a tight hug. "It's perfect!" After she pulled away from him, she tossed the box and wrapping paper onto her bed. Then she put on the necklace, having to draw the clasp the front to hook the two ends together. "Perfect," she repeated, grinning as she settled the pendant properly in front.

"I'm glad you like it."

"Okay. Now open yours." Elle bounced with her excitement.

Danny chuckled as he tore away the wrapping paper to find a plain white box. After prying open the box, he gasped and pulled at the model of a rocket that had once been launched into space. On the underside of the rocket, he found a little message reading "shoot for the stars."

"You don't have that one already, do you?" Elle bit her lower lip.

Danny shook his head then smiled. "No, I don't have it already." He put one arm around Elle's shoulders and hugged her. "Thanks. I love it." He placed it back in the box, already deciding where in his room he would displace the model rocket.

"Too bad my dad didn't plan this dinner for Christmas eve." Elle groaned as she led the way out of her room. "He does this whole Christmas eve party for work people. It's usually super dull." She stopped suddenly and spun around to face him. Her expression was one that left Danny feeling wary because it reminded him of whenever Sam had a plan in mind. "Hey! You could come with me. Then I'd at least have someone to talk to."

Danny scratched at the back of his head. "Ah, well, that depends on what my parents had planned for that night." He didn't like the idea of going to another fancy party. They weren't his kind of thing and left him feeling small and generally even more of a loser than when he was being bullied in school.

"I'm just kidding." Elle tapped a fist to his arm as she turned halfway back down the hall. "Although," her gaze slid back toward him, "if you're able to make it, you wouldn't even have to dress up. In fact, if you wanted to come dressed in some ratty jeans and hoodie, that would be perfect."

Danny laughed. "Now I'm surprised my friend never suggested the same. She's all about defying her parents. If I showed up in something her parents considered embarrassing, she would love that."

They continued down the hall and reached the top of the stairs before Elle spoke again. "Your friend was the one that came in a suit?" She laughed when Danny nodded. "I thought her mother's head was going to explode! She looked so mad."

"Then Sam's plan worked perfectly." Danny grinned as they walked to the bottom of the stairs.

Elle sighed. "I wish I could get away with that kind of stuff. My dad would be furious." She bumped Danny with her hip. "Think your parents would like having another teenager around for a while? My dad probably wouldn't even notice. Since he's been so," she rolled her eyes, "busy with some new project."

An uneasy laugh left him. "Uh, well, I don't know about that." Danny wouldn't be surprised if his parents took to Elle like she _was_ their daughter. He just had this feeling that his parents would absolutely love Elle once they got to know her. The mention of a new project caught his attention, but he didn't like the idea of involving Elle in any way in what was happening. What if she started to suspect something if he asked too many questions?

"I wasn't being serious," Elle said hurriedly when she noticed his discomfort with her question. "I was just-" She trailed off then shook her head. "It's just with the way my dad talks about you sometimes, I feel like he wishes you were his son."

That statement made Danny feel even more uneasy. He didn't like Mr. Masters thinking that way about him. "We probably shouldn't keep our parents waiting." It was a poor excuse to get off the current topic, but Danny didn't know how to respond to her comment. Elle nodded, and they walked toward the dining room where their parents were waiting for them.

"And then," his mother was saying, having to pause every few words to laugh, "his pants ripped when he bent over to pick up the toupee!" His father's face reddened with embarrassment.

"Wow," Elle said quietly while the adults were too distracted to realize they had arrived in the dining room. "I've never seen my dad this happy."

"How can you tell he's happy?" Danny's brow creased as he stared at Mr. Masters. The man held a glass of wine to his lips as he sipped it. His face gave away nothing to express "happiness" in Danny's mind.

"I guess you just have to live with him for years to pick up on things like that." Elle pushed him toward the table, which drew their parents' attention to them.

"Ah, good." Mr. Masters set down his wine glass. "We were waiting for you." He lifted a hand, and Carmina nodded before she disappeared into the kitchen.

"We were beginning to think we might have to send a search party after you," his mother said as Danny and Elle joined their parents at the table.

"Sounded to me like you were enjoying telling some embarrassing stories too much to do that," Danny said with an amused smile. Carmina returned to the dining room, pushing a trolley with their dinner.

"Just some old college stories," his father said quickly, the beet red continuing to stain his cheeks. "Nothing you kids would be interested hearing."

Danny doubted it was a boring story if his father's face was turning such a vibrant shade of red after the retelling of something that happened to the three adults back in college. But he also had enough of his own embarrassing stories from school to know he might laugh while reminiscing about them with friends, but they might not seem as humorous when shared with other people. He certainly wouldn't wish to share some of the stories with his parents.

"So I hear your grades have improved since Danny's been tutoring you," his mother said as she reached for her wine glass. His father, as the one driving that night, was drinking water.

"Yes," Elle answered politely with a small nod of her head. "He's really good at making things easy to understand."

"Your son truly is a godsend." Mr. Masters smiled to Danny's parents while Carmina moved about the table placing their dinners before them. Danny still found it unsettling the way the man acted toward his parents. "The previous tutors we hired weren't much help. Though I do hope the time he dedicates to tutoring my daughter hasn't interfered with his own studies."

Danny bit back the desire to snap at the man. He didn't want to turn this dinner into something unpleasant for his parents, who looked happy reconnecting with their friend from college. He also believed it more advantageous to keep Mr. Masters from realizing he suspected anything about him. "It's not interfering at all," he said, putting on a false smile. "I have plenty of time to keep up with my own work and help out Elle."

Mr. Masters stared at him, and Danny tensed, wondering if he had somehow let something slip just now. Then a slight smile pulled at Mr. Masters' mouth. "Well, I'm glad for that. Helping others is noble, but you shouldn't forsake the importance of your own education. Your parents were the same way. Always willing to tutor others when we weren't busy working on designs for new inventions and researching things."

"Oh! Remember that time with the librarian?" his father asked, and the conversation was quickly swept back to the adults discussing their college days. Somehow, that made it easier for Danny to relax as they ate dinner.


	53. Chapter 53

"I feel," Tucker said, "unsafe with Ms. Spectra still out there. We know what she is now, and I feel it's our responsibility to keep her from exploiting the troubled emotions of other teenagers."

Sam groaned on her end of the phone. "You don't have to tell us every little thing you feel, you know?"

"I just don't want to have any future misunderstandings," Tucker huffed. "I mean," his frown could be heard in his voice, "I feel really bad about what happened. I let Ms. Spectra manipulate my emotions until I turned on my best friend. I don't want to give her, or anyone like her, that power over me again. So I want to lay out what I'm feeling and keep everything clear among us."

Danny would have laughed, but he remembered how scary Tucker was under Ms. Spectra's influence. He never wanted to have to fight his friends again, so he agreed with Tucker about keeping everything out in the open among them. But even while he agreed they shouldn't keep things bottled up, he wasn't sure how to go about telling his friends about Dan. He shook the thought of the mercenary from his head to focus back on the conversation.

"Well, right now, we shouldn't have to worry about her," Sam said. "No one's in school, so she won't have students to manipulate. We can worry about her later when we're back in school."

"I don't think it's wise to brush her under the rug just because we're on a break from school though," Danny said, frowning. Not only was Ms. Spectra still out there, but she had the ghost Tucker managed to expel from his body. They were doing research. But what were they hoping to achieve through this research?

"I've set up an alert system," Tucker announced. "I might not be able to track her movements, but if she tries to get a counseling job at any school in town, I'll be notified. At least then, we can keep tabs if she resurfaces at another school." It provided only a minor sense of relief, but it was better than nothing.

"That's good." Danny leaned back in his desk chair. "So that dinner with Elle and her dad went all right." Mr. Masters was mostly occupied telling stories with Danny's parents, which was the only reason Danny was able to relax in his presence. He still didn't like that too charming persona he used when talking to his parents. The whole thing smelled of a setup. _Or maybe I'm just being super paranoid and Mr. Masters really did just want to reconnect with my parents_. Danny frowned. It was entirely possible that he was looking for conspiracies where there weren't any. Maybe. But he couldn't deny Mr. Masters was up to _something_. "I couldn't get away long enough to do any real investigating of the house. I could only pretend to be in the bathroom for so long before they'd all start wonder if there was something wrong with me."

"Would he really keep anything at his house though?" Sam asked skeptically.

"It's possible," Tucker replied. "Stuff he doesn't want anyone finding out about because it's illegal and evil, he wouldn't keep at Axion Labs. That would just be stupid."

"Elle _did_ mention her dad has been obsessed with working on something recently," Danny added. "She didn't know anything about what it was though."

"Not surprising," Sam commented. "What's her dad going to say? Hey, I've been working on this super secret evil project recently. Let me tell you all about it!" Her voice was heavy with sarcasm.

"It's still something we should try to look into." Danny didn't want to be caught off guard again like when Mr. Masters destroyed Mr. Technus' robot.

"I'll try to see if I can find anything out," Tucker said. "I haven't had much luck finding out anything about Mr. Technus." He let out a shout. "This is so frustrating!" Then he sighed. "Okay. No more talk about this. Tomorrow is Christmas! Let's try to talk about something happy."

Danny chuckled, agreeing to a change of topics until her heard his mother calling. "Ah, I gotta go. See you when we exchange gifts? Usual place and time?" Once they all agreed and said their goodbyes, Danny hung up his phone then pushed away from his desk. He left his room and headed downstairs to where his parents were waiting.

"Hey, Danny boy!" His father grinned as he sat on the couch with his wife next him. "We got that video chat thing working! Say hi to your aunt!" He twisted the laptop around to face his son, and Danny nearly laughed.

"You can make the picture bigger, you know." Danny walked over to the coffee table, and with a single click, he made the video full screen. "Hi, Aunt Alicia." He smiled. "Getting along with my dad? That's rare."

His aunt laughed heartily. "I thought I'd play nice as a Christmas gift." They both chuckled at that. "Well, I just wanted to check in tonight since I couldn't make it out there for Christmas."

Danny shook his head with a light smile. "I know you have people there who you want to spend Christmas with too. How is the gang out there anyway?" He moved around so he sat in front of the couch, allowing his aunt to see his parents too.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old." Aunt Alicia cocked a grin.

"That's only because you're there to keep them in line," Danny said while his father announced he would go make them some hot chocolate.

"Ha! You know it!" Then her expression turned more serious, Aunt Alicia frowning as she leaned back in her chair. "So what news is there about the investigation?"

His mother sighed. "Nothing yet. The police said they would inform us if they discovered anything, but so far no leads."

The conversation faded out as Danny frowned. The police weren't having any better luck than he was. Would they ever find out who killed Jazz? Danny worried the murderer would never be found. Christmas hardly felt like a happy occasion to him. He accepted the mug of hot chocolate when his father returned from the kitchen. His parents and aunt continued to talk, but Danny's mind was a million miles away while he thought about everything happening recently. He needed to find answers. Maybe, he chewed on his lower lip, he could sneak into the police station and learn what they had discovered in their investigation. Just because they hadn't told his parents anything, it didn't mean they hadn't found some leads to chase.

The video call lasted for another half hour before Aunt Alicia announced she had to "hit the hay" so she could get up early for tomorrow. Danny sat up with his parents as he drank his fill of hot chocolate and gazed around the front room decorated for Christmas. The tree sparkled with lights reflecting off the silver tinsel. The stockings hung from the fireplace. He even knitted a little stocking for Cujo, which had the chew toy he bought for the puppy sticking out from the top. Then his gaze fell upon the chair where Jazz would usually curl up with a book, and he set down his nearly empty mug.

"I think I'm going to head to bed," he announced as he got to his feet.

"Sleep well, sweetheart," his mother said, looking up from her book with a smile.

"Remember. Santa won't come if you try to sneak a peek!" his father said, and Danny merely shook his head with a small twitch of his mouth. Even if he had stopped believing in Santa years ago, Danny never said anything because he saw no reason to disappoint his father when he was always so cheerful about Christmas.

After saying goodnight to his parents, Danny jogged upstairs to his bedroom. When he reached his room, he paused to stare at the window with the drapes partially opened. Maybe he should run a quick patrol before sleeping. He considered it for a moment but decided, with it being Christmas Eve, he could take the night off. He walked to his bed and dropped onto it then rolled onto his back.

Cujo bounded into the room. After a moment of snuffling around, he jumped onto the bed with Danny and flopped on top of the human. Danny chuckled as Cujo happily chewed on the toy the hooded man had given the puppy. He caught the toy in his hand, and Cujo released it and barked with his tail wagging like he was waiting for Danny to throw it for him to chase. He drew back his arm to toss it but paused. Something about the toy stuck in his mind, and he frowned as he examined the black and white doll.

Danny sat up quickly, causing Cujo to roll from his chest into his lap. The doll. Danny's eyes grew wide as disbelief and shock hit him like someone had kicked him in the gut. He had the doll this whole time, but only right now did he put it together. The doll, though maybe a bit crude in its design, resembled Dan's costume exactly. Why? Why would the hooded man have a hand knitted doll of Dan? Danny's heart stopped, and his breath caught. Could Dan and the hooded man be the same person? He couldn't even confront either of them without giving himself away to him, if his suspicion was true.

When Cujo whined, Danny tossed the doll for the puppy to chase. Then he collapsed back onto the bed and covered his face with his hands. What was he going to do? Knowing that Dan was possibly the hooded man only made him more confused! He liked the hooded man. He enjoyed when they met and talked. The hooded man had taken care of Cujo for him! How could he be the same as the mercenary who killed for money?

Cujo returned after a moment and curled up at the foot of the bed with his toy. Danny lay there a while longer before he couldn't stand it anymore. Climbing out of bed, he walked over to his closet and dug out his costume. The puppy watched him curiously as Danny changed into his suit. He wasn't going to patrol, but he needed to get out of the house. Maybe a little flying around the town would help to clear his head. Once he was ready, he turned invisible, causing Cujo to bark in surprise, then left through the window, taking to the sky with no real destination in mind.

The night was quiet, and Danny floated lazily over the town. His ability to fly had improved greatly after the first rocky flight with Ember. He closed his eyes as the wind whipped past him, and in this moment, he could pretend the wind was stripping away all the troubles and worries built up over the past few weeks. Eventually, he would have to come back down to earth and have it all come crashing back to him. But for now, he reveled in the freedom.

After some time, though, Danny found himself landing in Amity Park's cemetery. Dropping the invisible act and reverting to human, he walked around, scanning the gravestones lined up in rows. Some were quite plain, but others were large and fancy, even having statues of angels on them. Some had new bouquets of flowers by them while for others, the flowers were wilting, brown, or dead. A handful showed no signs of ever having someone visit them. When he finally found it, Danny stopped in front of Jazz's grave. The gravestone was on the simple side, his parents deciding Jazz wouldn't care for anything extravagant. The carving around her name and date of birth and death made it look like the words were inscribed upon the pages of an open book. In the lower right corner was a quill and inkwell, and the top left corner had a small bundle of jasmine blossoms. It looked nice. Danny thought Jazz would approve it.

"Jazz," Danny mumbled quietly. Since no one was there to see him, he pulled down his mask. It felt strange to address his sister while appearing before her grave as Phantom, even if her body wasn't there. "I could really use in my life right now."

With a sigh, he took a seat before the gravestone. He felt selfish coming here wanting her help, but she always seemed to give him good advice when he needed it. Reaching up, he pushed back his hood as he ran his hand through his hair. Where was he to even start? So much had happened.

"I-" His heart sank as he tried to figure out how tell her everything. "I was going to tell you about what happened. That night. When we got home. I couldn't say anything with Spike there." He chewed on his lower lip and absently twisted at the fabric of his suit. "I shouldn't have kept these ghost powers from you in the first place, but I was scared and panicked. I should have done something to save you."

"Ah, but sadly, time wouldn't allow it."

Danny shot to his feet, his head snapping around as he scanned the cemetery. His heart pounded a mile a minute in fear of someone discovering his identity. But he saw nothing. The cemetery was empty except for him and the graves.

And the dead.

Danny gulped. After he shifted his eyes to bright green, he looked around the cemetery for a second time. He jumped back a step when he saw a man leaning against the gravestone, one arm draped over the top of it while he leaned his chin in the other hand.

"Who are you?" Danny tried to remain casual, but he was tensed for a fight if this ghost turned out to be an enemy. His red eyes unnerved Danny. They had no whites and no pupils, just pure red. A scar cut over his left eye, a thin jagged line of a lighter blue than his skin.

"Ah, isn't that the question?" The ghost smirked but didn't seem malicious. "I've seen the birth of the universe, and even its end. I've seen the futures to come and the pasts that were. Not much of anything has escaped my eyes."

"That, uh," Danny flicked his gaze around the quiet cemetery, noting other ghosts lingering at graves, though they paid him no attention, "isn't really an answer."

"Perhaps not the one you were looking for," the ghost agreed with a small nod. When he stood straighter, the full view of his torso caught Danny off guard, his bright green eyes widening. The ghost dressed casually in a purple sweatshirt with the hood drawn up over his head. But his chest had a hole carved out, a long rectangle hole with a glass door over it and a pendulum swinging back and forth in perfect time no matter how the ghost moved. "I am Clockwork."

Danny took a moment to absorb the moment in before he could speak again. "Are you evil?" A snort drew his attention downward to the foot poking out from behind the gravestone. He had missed it before, too focused on Clockwork.

"That depends on how you view him," the other ghost said.

"I'm not that bad." Clockwork frowned at the other ghost.

"You have the tendency to act like a little shit sometimes though."

"I'm sorry." Danny raised a hand to interrupt. "Before you two start squabbling any further like a married couple-"

"We're not."

"Can you explain what exactly is going on?" Danny rubbed at his forehead. At least, these two ghosts weren't attacking him. "Who exactly are the two of you? And why are you here?"

"He's Clockdick-" The ghost sitting behind the gravestone pointed at Clockwork with a screwdriver.

"Well, that's rude!" Clockwork huffed in offense.

"And I'm Quinn." The blue handed waved to him, but Quinn didn't bother to stand up for a proper introduction. "If I weren't around, all his clocks would be out of sync."

"Remember the last time that happened? A few centuries ago? Complete nightmare to get all the anomalies cleared up and get time back on track!" Clockwork shook his head, folding his arms over his chest with the glass case door. Clockwork's gaze turned toward him, or Danny thought they did. It was hard to tell without any pupils. "Your sister wants you to know that she's at peace."

Danny stiffened, gasping like the ghost had punched him. "What?"

Clockwork nodded. "She doesn't blame you. She understands why you didn't tell her, and she's not angry at you for keeping it secret. She's proud of how you've chosen to use these powers, protecting the town and all that. But she doesn't want you holding onto her death like it's your fault."

"You - You've spoken to her?" A glimmer of hope almost managed to shine in his heart, but Danny drew back from it. "Why hasn't she come to see me then?"

"She's not a ghost."

Danny knew that was the answer, and Clockwork managed to look sad about stating it so bluntly. His shoulders slumped, and his chest ached. He knew it, but the response still hurt.

"But her spirit can still relay messages. I listened to what she had to say, and now I'm telling you."

Danny eyed the ghost. Was Clockwork getting older? When Danny first saw him, Clockwork seemed like he was in his mid-twenties. Now he seemed past thirty, with white hair sprouting upon his chin. His clothes subtly changed, though kept to the purple theme. The ghost gave no notice of any changes in himself, and Danny wondered if that was just a trick of the eye.

"But why would you do that for me?"

"I couldn't resist the opportunity to meet the famous Phantom." A smirk stretched across his face, wrinkles appearing in his cheeks. "But there is another reason. Hold out your hand."

Danny complied with a frown. "Why am I doing this?"

"Because I want you to focus," Clockwork answered like it explained everything. "Remember that burning freezing feeling from before?" He continued when Danny nodded. "I want you to focus on that feeling in your hand." He waved a hand in encouragement. "Go on. Give it a try."

Danny's brow knitted, and he thought for sure the ghost had a few screws missing. Then he turned his attention to his hand. He remembered the sensation all too well, still having nightmares about being trapped in his parents' machine and zapped by the ecto electricity. But trying to force that sensation to return to his hand wasn't as easy as recalling how it felt.

"This is stupid!" he snapped at last when he grew too frustrated with trying. His fingertips tingled with the familiar sensation, and he gasped at the sight of small glows of green flickering on his fingers. "What?" He couldn't even formulate a thought.

"A new power," Clockwork explained with perhaps a proud look on his aging face. He now looked like a suave fifty-something in a pinstripe purple suit with close cropped white hair and a goatee. "It's been brewing for a while now. Just needed a little encouragement to come out."

The glow extinguished when Danny lost his focus, but an excited buzzed filled him. He had a new power to train! "But why would you tell me about this?" He frowned, baffled by this ghost.

"Because you need to be prepared for things to come." Clockwork returned to leaning on the gravestone.

"And what's to come?"

"Done!" Quinn hopped onto his feet and presented Clockwork with a staff.

"Ah, it seems our time is up." After he picked up the staff, Clockwork almost looked sad about it. "You'll do well, Danny." He twisted his staff clockwise and vanished along with Quinn.

"Wait!" Danny shouted, but it was too late. He was left alone in the cemetery with yet more unanswered questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quinn is an OC created by my friend akiwitch.


	54. Chapter 54

A night of sleep helped little with his problems. For several hours after he returned home from his impromptu trip to the cemetery, he lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling, his mind a jumble of thoughts. How was he supposed to deal with Dan the next time he saw him now that he suspected the mercenary to be the hooded man? Should he pretend to be oblivious? But how could he act like everything was fine around the hooded man the next time they ran into each other?

The whole thing gave him a headache. And it wasn't the only problem! Now he wondered about the mysterious ghost Clockwork. What was his purpose? He showed up out of nowhere just to tell Danny his sister didn't hate him after he did nothing to save her and teach him about a new power. A cryptic message of needing to be prepared, but Clockwork never said what was supposedly to come. What did he need to be prepared for?

Somehow, he fell asleep and managed to get a few hours of sleep before Cujo woke him up in the morning. The puppy licked his face, leaving a long trail of drool up his cheek. Danny climbed out of bed and padded barefoot out of his room with Cujo trotting after him, eager to be fed.

His mother was already in the kitchen when he arrived. She had breakfast cooking, their usual scrambled eggs with a side of sausage and toast. A casserole was baking in the oven for later when they would take it to the shelter to be served for the homeless. His mother made one every year, and they would go down to the shelter as a family to help out for an hour or two. Jazz always said stuff like that looked good on college applications.

Danny got out the puppy food and poured a scoop into Cujo's bowl. The puppy gobbled up his food while Danny put away the bag. His mother served up plates and laid them on the table for them. While Danny fixed a glass of orange juice, his father strolled into the kitchen, yawning widely. He shuffled over to his wife and kissed her on the cheek before they all sat down at the table to eat. It was so normal and yet seemed completely alien to have Christmas breakfast as usual without Jazz. Danny quickly pushed away that thinking. Jazz was, according to Clockwork, at peace. She wouldn't be angry with them for celebrating Christmas and moving on with their lives. Danny glanced between his parents, hating that he couldn't tell them about his encounter with a ghost or about the message from Jazz.

"So you'll be exchanging gifts with your friends as usual?" his mother asked, breaking the silence over their breakfast.

Danny bobbed his head. "Yup, tomorrow. Like usual." He pushed around his eggs for a moment. "Are we going to watch some of that twenty-four hour Christmas Story marathon?" By this point, he and his father could recite the whole movie word for word because they watched it every year.

"You know it!" his father answered cheerily.

When they finished with their breakfast, they washed up their dishes before heading into the front room to open presents. They hadn't gone overboard with the gifts in years, but somehow, the tree looked rather sad with the small amount of presents under it. Danny walked over to the stockings and got out the chew toy for Cujo, which the puppy immediately snatched from his hand. Cujo flopped down beside the couch and gnawed happily on one end of the long bone. His own stocking was filled with little things, a tangerine and some Christmas candies and a few candy canes that hooked over the edge. Sitting down on the floor, Danny unwrapped a nougat and popped it into his mouth.

With the small amount of gifts, the opening of presents went quickly. His father had found a book on space, which Danny almost wanted to dive right into reading the moment he opened it. With some help from Tucker, Danny made little plush teddy bears to resemble his parents. The smaller teddy bear wore a teal jumpsuit while the bigger one had a bright orange jumpsuit. Even if they weren't something expensive, his parents still loved them.

The biggest surprise, though, was when Danny opened the small box addressed to him. Nestled inside, he found a set of keys. "I - What?" He picked up the keys then looked to his parents in confusion.

His parents exchanged smiles. "Go check out front," his father said with a nod toward the front door.

Danny shot to his feet and darted into the front hall. When he reached the door, he threw it open then gasped in surprise. Parked at the end of their walkway was a motorcycle he was certain couldn't be bought at any dealership.

"We thought you could use your own ride," his mother explained when they came to join him at the door.

"Yeah, since your skateboard broke, and you didn't seem keen on driving Jazz's car," his father added.

Danny turned around and hugged his parents tightly. "Thanks."

"But no being reckless just because it's a motorcycle," his mother warned seriously. "And you're to wear a helmet at all times when you drive it."

"And your mother made sure I didn't add any fun upgrades." His father pouted, and though he felt a little bad about his father being sad, Danny was thankful his mother stopped him from adding anything that might be dangerous to the motorcycle.

"I can't wait to show my friends!" Danny could just imagine their faces. Sam probably wouldn't be impressed but she would be happy for him. Tucker - Danny winced - would be jealous since his friend still wasn't able to afford his own car. Maybe he could let Tucker drive it a few times.

"I think you can hold off until tomorrow." His father grinned as he ruffled Danny's hair. "Now let's get started on that marathon! I'll make some popcorn!" He headed down the hall toward the kitchen.

"Sometimes I think he has a hollow leg," his mother said with a shake of her head. "I better check on that casserole."

After closing the front door, Danny walked into the front room and flipped on the television. Then he sat down on the couch with his Christmas candy, and Cujo joined him, curling up beside him with his new chew toy bone. When his father returned to the front room with a bowl of popcorn for them, Danny switched the television over to the movie, catching it when it was already five minutes into the next showing. They munched on candy and popcorn, enjoying the movie and occasionally sprouting out the lines together.

"We're leaving in five minutes," his mother announced when it was near time for them to head to the shelter.

His father shut off the television then took the bowl to the kitchen. Danny jogged upstairs to get ready, needing to put on actual clothes or risk being dragged to the shelter in his starry pajama pants and faded NASA shirt. Once he was dressed in jeans and the Christmas sweater his aunt sent him, he returned downstairs to join his parents. He checked to make sure Cujo had water in his bowl for while they were gone. Then he and his parents left their house to head to the shelter.

As he stared out the car window, Danny remembered the first time they went to the shelter. It was all Jazz's idea, and she practically dragged him out of the house kicking and screaming because he didn't want to go. He was only eight at the time. Who could blame him for being a whiny little brat who only wanted to watch terrible Christmas movies with his father and play with his new toys? He got better about going over the years, though.

"It's good to see you again," Mrs. O'Malley greeted them when they entered the shelter. Her red hair was tied back in a bun and covered in a net to keep it out of the food she was serving. "Oh! And you brought your famous turkey casserole!" She grinned, taking it from Danny's mother as the family of three got aprons and hair nets to prepare for serving food. "Everyone just loves it."

"I'm glad to hear it." His mother smiled as she made sure her hair was tucked under the net.

They joined Mrs. O'Malley behind the food counter, each taking up their own stations. Danny smiled pleasantly as he scooped up mashed potatoes to add to the trays placed in front of him. He made small chat with some of the more talkative people who came to the shelter for a warm meal. One old woman told him he looked just like her grandson, who never visited from what he gathered.

Their shift lasted for two hours, filling in for an extra hour because someone had called in earlier to say they were sick and didn't want to risk passing any germs to anyone. Danny's legs hurt from standing for so long without being able to walk around too much. He rubbed at his shoulders as he and his parents said their goodbyes to Mrs. O'Malley and the other workers on their way out of the shelter. His parents headed for the car, his mother carrying the empty casserole pan. Mrs. O'Malley wasn't lying about the people liking it, as the casserole didn't last long before it was completely gone. Danny slowed down when he felt his phone vibrating against his hip. He dug it out of his pocket to check the message.

[ _All I want for Xmas is u_ ~~]

Danny snorted at the message, though a smile tugged at his mouth. Leave it to D to send him lyrics from a Christmas carol instead of just wishing him a happy holidays. He typed in a reply, but reading over the [ _You oculd do better_ ], he opted against it and wrote a new message.

[ _Merry Xmas to u 2. R u always so cheesy?_ ]

He chuckled at the reply.

[ _The cheesiest!_ ]

Danny didn't get to reply when someone bumped into him. "Hey!" he protested, but anything further died in his throat when he met the eyes of a startled Star. "Uh, I mean, you should be more careful."

Star huffed, shifting the heavy bags in her hands. "And I had this all planned out so I _wouldn't_ run into you!"

"Sorry?" Danny wasn't sure what else to say.

"You should be!" Star frowned then sighed. "Look. I do this every year. Bring food to the shelter and help out. And I always make sure to avoid you so you don't go blabbing it all over school."

"I wouldn't!" Danny argued quickly. "But, well, I mean, you're doing something good. Why wouldn't you want people to know?"

Star rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't understand."

"Right. A List thing." Danny shook his head at the common response from the popular students. He glanced at his phone when another message came in from D.

[ _the cheese King even!_ ]

"Is that your boyfriend?" Star asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Ah, no. Just a friend I met on an online game." Danny shrugged and stuffed his phone back in his pocket. "So I'm guessing the rest of the A List don't know about this."

"It's not like you haven't kept things from your friends. From how Miss Goth acted at school, you never told them about that guy you're dating," Star returned with a pointed glare.

"We're not dating." But Danny could feel heat rising to his cheeks. "We just bump into each other sometimes." He frowned, reminded again of his dilemma. "Say, um-" He rubbed at the back his neck, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "So say you know this person, uh, online or something. And you really hit it off."

"Talking about the guy from the game?"

"Well, no. Just let me finish. So you know this guy. But you know this other guy that you've met in person."

"The guy who wears his hood up?"

"I wasn't finished!" Danny narrowed his eyes, frustrated with the interruptions. When Star held up her hands with a look as if to say "okay, okay!" he continued. "So you know these two guys, but then you find out something that makes you suspect that they aren't two different guys but the same guy."

"I'm not getting the problem." Star's brow knitted in confusion.

Danny sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The problem is the one guy you know in person isn't exactly a good guy. In fact, he's done some pretty bad things."

"I thought that guy looked like a criminal."

"So what would you do?"

Star folded her arms, pursing her mouth in thought. "Wow. So, wait. You both think you're talking to two different people even though you're both only talking to one other person?" She laughed, finding his situation hilarious.

"Well, I don't... It's not like it's one hundred percent for sure they're the same. But I don't know if I should really even bring it up to one or the other. I mean, what if I'm wrong? I could just be confusing the poor guy! And what if he doesn't take me accusing him of being someone else too well?"

"Ugh!" Star made a face. "So you could possibly have _two_ guys interested in you? I've never had two people interested in me at the same time." She huffed with a pout, and Danny wondered how she would feel knowing she had someone else who liked her besides her boyfriend. "And why exactly are you asking me for advice? Do I have love expert stamped on my forehead or something?"

"Well, you are pretty smart," Danny said, and Star raised an eyebrow at him. "I may have heard you're basically a semester ahead in your math class. But I guess I figured you know a thing or two about relationships since you've been seeing that guy for years now. I'm pretty sure you two have been dating for the longest time out of all the couples at school. Plus, you're here." He shrugged. "I thought I'd take the chance to ask your advice."

Star held her head up high. "I am pretty smart." She gave a curt nod then folded her arms as she considered his situation. "Maybe you could subtly hint at knowing," she suggested. "Like mention something that you've only talked about with one of them to the other and see how they respond."

"That," Danny hesitated, "could work." The real question was: Did he want to risk letting Dan figure out his identity? He would need a way to make sure his own identity remained safe if he tried to subtly discover if Dan and the hooded man were the same person.

"Just," Star said, pointing a finger at him and snapping Danny out of his thoughts, "don't be too obvious about it."

Danny shot his hands up before him. "I won't!"

Star nodded. "Good." Her hands were on her hips with her bags hanging from her wrists. "Okay. And as weird, and maybe a little nice, as this chat is, I should really," she tilted her head toward the shelter, "get in there for my shift."

"Right. Of course!" Danny bobbed his head, almost forgetting about it while caught up in his own problems. "And I should really get back to my family. Thanks for the advice."

"Next time, I'm charging you for it." Star smirked, and Danny couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

After a rather awkward goodbye, Danny headed toward the car where his parents patiently waited for him so they could drive home.


	55. Chapter 55

Danny still didn't know how he was going to go about subtly discovering if Dan and the hooded man were the same person. How could he trick either of them into giving themselves away without exposing himself? He mulled it over since running into Star without coming up with anything, but he hadn't encountered either man yet either. Until he ran into either one, he had time to stew over the problem.

"Earth to Danny!" Sam waved a hand before his face, jerking her friend out of his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry." Danny winced as he realized he needed to stop spacing like that, or he might make his friends worry. They had met up for their usual after Christmas gift exchange. Danny rode his new motorcycle to the meet up spot, instantly making Tucker jealous as he was now the only one without a mode of transportation among the three friends. He told Tucker he was allowed to borrow the motorcycle sometimes, as long as he promised to be careful with it.

"You're not keeping anything from us, are you?" Tucker frowned with a candy cane hanging out one corner of his mouth.

Danny sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Just thinking about everything. So much is going on, and it's all this big jumbled mess in my head. It's hard keeping it all straight."

"Well, at least for the moment, you don't have school work to worry about on top of it," Sam put in for a touch of positivity. "Too bad, it's only for another week."

"Hey," Tucker held out a fist toward Danny, "you're not in this alone, right?"

Danny's mouth twitched in a small smile. "Right." He bumped his own fist against Tucker's fist.

"If you fill us in on everything you know, we might be able to better help you put things together or run down leads you didn't see on your own."

"You'll have to stop by and see everything I've put together then." As much as he hated what Ms. Spectra had done to his friend, Danny had to admit the whole incident helped them open up more to each other, improving their lines of communication. If he hadn't woken up to how everything was affecting his friends, Danny might have continued to keep them out of the loop and relied only on himself to figure out everything. With his friends on the case, maybe they could make some progress in finding out what exactly was happening in their town.

"We've got time right now," Tucker offered.

Danny shook his head. "I was thinking I'd head to the police station," he admitted as disappointment flashed across his friend's face. "They haven't told us anything new, but that doesn't mean they haven't learned something. I just want to do a little snooping."

"Nothing we can help you with there, huh?" Sam unwrapped a soft chew nougat and popped it into her mouth.

"I wouldn't want to risk the two of you getting in trouble with the police." Danny got up from his spot and stretched. "I can fill you in on anything I find out tomorrow at my house."

"Maybe I can get started on some sort of program for putting together all the information you've gathered so far," Tucker suggested as he and Sam also stood. "It probably won't be much until I see what you have, but it'll give me something to tinker with tonight."

"Catch you both tomorrow then." After their goodbyes, Danny climbed onto his motorcycle and drove back to his house. His parents had already headed down into their laboratory before Danny left to meet up with his friends. They were still down there when Danny returned home. He jogged upstairs to his room then quickly changed into his Phantom suit. Once he was ready, he turned invisible then left the house.

The motorcycle was cool, but flying was an amazing feeling. Danny smiled widely as he soared over the town, heading toward the downtown precinct where he would be most likely to find Valerie's father. When he reached the building, he slipped inside and sneaked around until he found the Police Chief's office. He stuck his head through the door and gave the office a quick glance. It was empty.

Danny checked the hall briefly, to be sure Mr. Gray wasn't on his way back to his office just yet. Then he stepped through the door and into the office. Nervously, he walked over to the desk and stared at the computer. Where did he even beginning searching it for information about his sister's murder? Would he even have enough time to find out anything? Shaking the doubts from his mind, Danny focused his attention on searching for the file on his sister's murder case.

Danny could break into his parents' computer and search their files for their research in his sleep. He had done it since forever, after all. But he hadn't stopped to think about how to break into a police station's computer. He frowned as he stared at the locked screen. He hesitated to try anything. What if it set off alarms? He was going for stealthy, and alerting the police to his presence defeated that purpose.

"Come on, Dad."

Danny jerked away from the computer when he heard the familiar voice. The door opened, and Mr. Gray walked into his office with his daughter following after him. Danny pressed back against the wall, his breath catching in his throat. Invisibility was quite the handy ability in situations like this, but he was also aware that his powers could act up sometimes, so he still had to be careful to avoid being caught.

"It's just a little piercing," Valerie continued as her father sighed tiredly. "You've let me get piercings before."

"I let you get your ears pierced," Mr. Gray corrected. "Once. I'm not going to give you permission to get anything else pierced. Begging won't convince me to say yes." He dropped off a file on his desk then turned to his daughter. "Now, I'm very busy here. I can't have you here being in the way."

"But-"

"Valerie, we can discuss this further at home, if you insist, but I really need to focus here." Mr. Gray opened the door to his office again, and Danny could see the frustration in his expression when Officer Walker stood on the other side of the door. "Walker, I have no time-"

"You've been avoiding me for far too long." Officer Walker's mouth thinned, and annoyance flashed in his eyes. He dressed in a white suit, which was unusual for officers on duty.

"Not avoiding," Mr. Gray corrected smoothly as he stepped past Officer Walker and out of his office. "I've been busy with the numerous criminals and handling press and many other duties." He paused to turn back to his daughter. "Go home. We'll talk tonight."

Valerie released a frustrated huff after the door had closed behind her father. "I just wanted a belly button ring," she complained to what she thought to be an empty office. "It's not like I was asking to pierce my nose with a stick!"

Danny left Valerie to her grumpiness and slipped out of the office. If he couldn't hack into the police computers, maybe he could still find something out by following after Mr. Gray. He jogged down the hall to catch up to Mr. Gray, and Officer Walker who unfortunately hadn't left the Police Chief's side.

"If that Phantom is any indication of what we're dealing with," Officer Walker explained, "then our men aren't prepared to deal with something like that. The Fentons won't give us the weapons we need."

"The Fentons don't want us doing more harm than good with weapons we're unfamiliar with and are untested," Mr. Gray argued, and Danny had a feeling this wasn't the first time they had this conversation. "But I will not authorize these government goons coming into my town to make the whole situation worse."

Danny jerked his head around as a chill ran down his spine. His eyes darted around, spotting officers chatting as they walked the hall, passing off files and papers to each other, or hulling down a suspect in cuffs. Anyone who thought about attacking the precinct had to be crazy.

"The Fentons' ineptitude is all the more reason to-"

"No," Mr. Gray stated firmly, and Officer Walker twitched in his frustration of being cut off in the middle of his argument. The Police Chief opened his mouth, a rant ready to go from his expression.

His ghost sense bothered him until he could no longer ignore it. Danny sank through the floor before he could listen to anymore of the conversation between Police Chief and disgruntled officer. His ghost sense grew stronger as he followed it. Dread crept up through him when he saw the few officers on the lower floor slumped against the walls or passed out on the floor. He landed before one officer, almost afraid to touch him and check for a pulse. A sigh of relief escaped him when he found the young man was in fact alive. But what had happened here? What could have caused all these officers to pass out?

"You haven't told them anything, have you?"

Danny froze. The voice was somewhat familiar, though he couldn't place where he might have heard it. He crept forward a few paces until he was before the door of a holding cell. When he peeked through the bars, he spotted Gregor sitting on the narrow shelf bolted to the cell's wall and acted as a bed. But Gregor wasn't the only one within the cell. A man and woman joined him. The blond man leaned against one wall with a leg bent. He dressed like a biker with a thick leather jacket that was a few sizes too big on him. The woman flicked neon green hair over her shoulder as she gave the holding cell a detestable glare.

"Like I even know anything worth telling anyone," Gregor grumbled. He had dark bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept well in days. "I was only told to get close to some people and find out some information. I was never told anything about an endgame."

"They never tell us anything." The woman folded her arms with a shrug. "Whatever. I don't care about that crap. But I guess we should probably to make sure you keep your big mouth shut anyway. Save us the hassle later." Gregor shied away from the woman, terror flashing through his eyes.

"I doubt they'll be happy about you going off to do your own thing. Eventually they'll probably yell us to do something about you." The blond man picked at his thumbnail like this whole meeting up in a police precinct holding cell bored him. "What did you even think you were going to do if you managed to get your hands on that stuff the old geezer was hiding?"

Gregor shrugged. "Eh, you know, make some money. If they want it so badly, it must be worth something."

Danny frowned. Gregor clearly had zero idea what exactly he had set out to steal from Dalv Pharmaceuticals. Only a small group of people would be interested in purchasing the ectoplasm he tried to steal. Danny doubted Gregor would even be able to sell it. But it left him wondering why Dalv Pharmaceuticals even had the ectoplasm. And why was some mysterious organization bent on stealing it?

"What is it?"

The question drew Danny's attention back to the people in the holding cell. The blond man frowned at the woman, who had turned her gaze to something beyond the bars. Danny glanced quickly around him but the few officers nearby were still out cold. Then the woman shook her head.

"I thought someone was watching us," she explained with a shrug, but she hugged her arms tighter around her body with a subtle shiver.

The man lifted an eyebrow but decided it wasn't worth asking anything further. "Look. We don't really care about you one way or the other." He waved a hand dismissively at Gregor. "As long as you're not talking, we don't really need to step in. We haven't received orders in a while." He shrugged it off like it was no concern. "We really only came here to ask about Spike. We haven't seen him since we brought him some food a while back."

Danny's eye widened as he realized why their voices had sounded familiar. They had stopped by the night Danny confronted Spike about Jazz's murder.

"Like I even know who that loser is." Gregor snorted, tilting his head up like he was far too superior to hang out with them.

"That loser happens to be our friend," the woman snapped as she glared daggers at the prisoner.

"What happened down here?"

Danny turned at the shout from down the hall with a surge of panic upon seeing the officer down the hall. The man and woman were peaceful so far, only knocking out the few officers on this floor. But things could turn out differently if more officers came to stir up trouble, and with the middle aged officer reaching for his radio, more officers would definitely be on their way. Danny still didn't know how the two of them were able to knock the officers out so easily.

"Guess that's our cue to head out," the blond man announced, pushing away from the wall.

"What about me?" Gregor jumped to his feet. "You're getting me out of here, right?"

The woman laughed. "Why would we do that?" Some dangerous flashed in her eyes as her lips curled in a cruel smirk. "After all, you did just refer to our friend as a loser."

Danny shot a glance down the hall as the officer crept forward with his brown eyes sweeping the hall for any sign of life. The officer's hand hovered close to his gun holster, ready to draw his weapon if a threat appeared before him. Meanwhile, the man and woman left Gregor to rot in his holding cell as they stepped through the bars.

Ghosts. Danny's hands balled into fists at his sides with the familiar tingling sensation of burning and freezing. His first thought should have been they might be ghosts, but it wasn't true of all the criminals he fought. It would be dangerous to always assume he would be facing off against a ghost.

"Freeze!" the officer shouted when he spotted the man and woman in the hall.

"It's cute that he thinks he can stop us," the woman told the man with her. She smirked before turning toward the officer. "I'll put him right to sleep like the rest."

Danny's brain kicked into overdrive. He had to do something to stop the woman before she use whatever ghostly power she possessed. If she was a ghost, then this was the perfect time to test out his parents' invention! He fumbled when he reached to grab the thermos. The woman already had a hand to her puckered lips, though Danny wasn't sure how that would help the two of them escape from a precinct full of police officers. He popped the cap off the thermos then aimed the end at the woman.

Nothing happened. Danny panicked as the woman pulled her hand away from her mouth. Then she blew on her hand like she was blowing a kiss to the officer. In fact, Danny could see the little red lips drifting down the hall toward the officer. This thermos had to work! He refused to believe his parents' invention was a failure. Everything he saw in their notes suggested the thermos should work. It just - It needed something. It - Danny almost gasped out loud when an idea hit him. Maybe it wouldn't work, but he had to try. He focused on his hands like he had in the cemetery. The sensation built until a green glow enveloped his hands. The thermos whirred then a bright white beam shot out of the uncapped end.

"What is this?" the woman shrieked as the beam drew her toward the thermos.

The blond man jumped at her, grabbing hold of her around the waist, but his strength couldn't fight against the power of the thermos' pull. In seconds, the woman was sucked into the thermos. The man lost his hold on her and stumbled back before he crossed paths with the white beam and shared the woman's fate.

Danny tossed a glance over his shoulder then winced when he saw the police officer slumped on the floor, knocked out like the others. He failed to save the man from the woman's ability, but at least she was out of the fight now and couldn't cause more damage. Turning back around, Danny gulped when he met eyes with the seething man. His green eyes glowed and glared right at Danny like he knew exactly where the hero stood. Could the man see him? Danny remembered in the cemetery when he couldn't see Clockwork until he shifted his eyes. It was the same when he saw the little blob ghosts.

"Give her back!" the blond man demanded.

Danny dropped his invisibility. He had lost any advantage it gave him if the man could see him. "I'm afraid I can't do that." The first thought to run through his mind as he heard the stomp of feet approaching the hall was to get this man out of the precinct before something worse than a few knocked out officers could happen. "But if you want to try to take her," he slapped the cap back onto the thermos, "you're welcomed to try."

Four or five police officers burst into the hall, from the sound of the footsteps, as Danny flew up through the ceiling. Shots were fired, and he was relieved he didn't get hit. That relief was only a fleeting moment as in the next second, a dark shape sped past him. Danny flew backwards away from it, his heart stopping in his chest. The dark shape reminded him of Ms. Spectra when she was trying to control Tucker during his possession. But what would she be doing here at the precinct? He hadn't heard anything from her since she disappeared after Tucker managed to expel the possessing ghost from him.

A fist slammed into the back of his head. The thermos popped free of his hands, clanking as it bounced on the floor. Police were shouting, calling for backup to deal with the intruders in the precinct, but Danny ignored them. He needed to get that thermos back! The dark shape snatched up the thermos before Danny could chase after it.

"Yeah! Nice one, Shadow!"

Danny turned around and punched the blond ghost in the face. A distraction, and it would keep the ghost's anger focused on him rather than straying to the police. Then Danny chased after the shadow as it flew to an upper floor of the precinct. He tossed a glance over his shoulder to see the ghost, cursing and his nose bruised, following after him. But he frowned. What was the shadow? And could he fight it?

_Only one way to find out_. Danny shot toward the shadow as he drew back a fist. Then he swung. But the shadow pulled apart, creating an opening the middle of it through which Danny passed. His eyes widened, both in surprise and panic, because on the other side stood Police Chief Gray. The momentum carried Danny, and he couldn't stop as his fist swung forward, aiming for the man's head.

Police Chief Gray caught the fist, and in one quick motion, he had Danny's arm twisted behind him as he shoved the ghost hero against the nearby wall. Wincing, Danny had to admit he was impressed. Valerie's dad had some moves! But now wasn't the time to marvel over the man's skills. Danny twisted his head around to stare down the hall where he spotted the shadow handing off the thermos to the blond ghost.

"Good work, Shadow." The blond ghost stared at the thermos. "Don't worry, Kitty. I'll get you out of here somehow." When he lifted his head, he glared darkly at Danny. "Do your thing." A creepy smile split the shadow's face.

"Wait! Mr. Gray!" Danny pleaded. "I'm not the bad guy here."

"I know that," Mr. Gray said in a quiet voice. "But you have to understand that I at least have to appear to be trying to capture you. For your own safety though, I suggest you get out of here fast."

Danny phased himself free from the man's hold. The blond ghost had disappeared during their short exchange. But what of the shadow? What did the ghost mean when he told it to do its thing? When he heard a creaking and cracking sound overhead, he snapped his gaze up. The shadow passed along above them, and in its wake, long spider webbing cracks appeared on the ceiling. A cold sense of dread stabbed at the back of his head.

Danny jumped forward, grabbing hold of the Police Chief and accidentally tackling the man to the floor. Chunks of the ceiling crashed down around them, and through them as Danny shifted them both to intangible seconds before the first chunk hit. After several moments, which seemed to stretch out for too long, the loud crashes faded. Danny tentatively lifted his head to check on the hall. The whole ceiling had caved in for several feet before and behind them. The shadow was gone like the ghost. Shakily, Danny stood and helped up the Police Chief, making sure they were out of the debris before returning them to solid form.

"Freeze!"

Danny fought back a groan when he heard the familiar voice of Officer Walker. This whole plan had turned into one giant mess, and now he had to deal with Officer Walker. He turned his head when he felt a nudge to his back.

"I'll deal with him," Mr. Gray whispered. "You just get clear of here."

"What?" When he glanced down the hall toward where Officer Walker stood, Danny barely caught a glimpse of the weapon the man held. It wasn't the standard gun of a police officer. From what he saw, it reminded him of the type of weapons his parents built to combat violent ghosts, should they ever encounter one.

Then he was shoved out of the way. Danny hit the wall as a blast of heat passed too closely behind him. Someone shouted in pain. The wall at the end of the hall burst, and a scream filled the air. Pushing away from the wall, Danny jogged toward the hole in the wall then froze when he saw Valerie standing over her father's body. His right arm was a bloody mess, and the side of his head had a nasty gash.

_This happened because of me_ , passed briefly through his mind. But Danny heard footsteps behind him. Officer Walker was still a threat, one that wanted to take him out no matter the cost. Guilt burdened him, but Mr. Gray didn't put himself in the line of fire just for Phantom to be captured. Shifting to invisible, Danny fled from the precinct before Officer Walker had another chance to fire at him.


	56. Chapter 56

_Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_ What was he doing running away? Danny couldn't get the image out of his mind of Mr. Gray lying there on the floor and the horrified expression on Valerie's face. It was just another scene that would be forever carved into his memory, and another mistake about which he would continue to feel guilty. Mr. Gray wouldn't have gotten hurt if he, as Phantom, wasn't there. The Police Chief got badly injured trying to protect him. His stomach twisted, a sick feeling churning inside him when he considered Mr. Gray was more than just badly injured.

_No!_ Danny shook his head, refusing to think like that. He couldn't believe someone else had died because of him. He wanted to go back and check on Mr. Gray, make sure the Police Chief was all right, but he couldn't. Officer Walker was still there, and if Phantom showed up again, the officer would do everything he could to take down the ghost hero. Phantom needed to stay away from the precinct, or Mr. Gray's sacrifice would be for nothing.

Danny spun around in midair when he felt a chill run up his spine. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary and wondered if perhaps his ghost sense was acting up. Then a whoosh of darkness flew past him. Danny threw his arms over his head to protect it as cold washed around him. When he looked, he found himself enveloped in the darkness.

"Hey!" Danny shouted, pushing at the darkness around him. No matter how hard he pushed or kicked or pulled at the darkness, it wouldn't break. He tried everything he could think of to fight the darkness, but he only succeeded in exhausting himself. "What is this?" he huffed in frustration when he couldn't find a way to free himself. Even intangibility had no effect on whatever had trapped him.

_I let myself get distracted for two seconds, and someone captures me_. Danny shook his head, feeling immensely disappointed in himself. When he got out of this, he was definitely not telling his friends about it. He didn't even want to think about how his friends would react if they learned of this. His cheeks heated at the thought of them laughing at him.

The darkness split, and Danny winced as light and sound returned to him. When he could see properly again, his eyes immediately landed on the blond ghost from the precinct. He glared, even if it went unseen. When he tried to lunge at the ghost, he couldn't move. Glancing down, he found the shadow still wrapped around his body.

Leaning against a park tree, the blond ghost had one leg bent, trying for a cool pose despite his bruised nose. "Tell me how to get Kitty out of this thing." His mouth pressed thin as he held up the thermos.

"Why should I help you?" Danny spat out. The shadow squeezed around him until he gasped out, the air forced from his lungs.

"All I want is Kitty back," the ghost explained. "You get her out of here, and we can all just go our separate ways."

"So the two of you can go back to your organization of evil?" Danny scoffed with a snort. "They're _killing_ people. Did you know that?" He knew nothing of what this organization was trying to achieve, but after his encounters with Ember, he knew they weren't up to anything good. Why were they turning people into ghosts? What did they hope to achieve with these experiments?

"That's none of my business." The ghost shrugged with indifference.

"None of your-" Danny spluttered, hardly believing his ears. "They took your life to give you those powers!"

The ghost blinked at him and stared for several long moments before he burst into laughter. "Kitty and I died when my motorcycle hit a patch of black ice on the road and we ended up in a ditch. We died before anyone could reach us." He shrugged like dying meant nothing to him. "We got recruited by this guy who said he could help us control our powers, so we decided to just go with him. We didn't really know anything about what was happening at that time. We don't really care about what those people are trying to do." He waved a hand dismissively. "We became friends with Spike. When he disappeared, we thought maybe he got arrested."

Could he believe anything the ghost was saying? Danny squinted, like if he stared hard enough at the ghost, he might be able to spot the lie. "So I let your friend out of there," he nodded at the thermos, "and the two of you aren't going to go off and cause more trouble?"

"Well, I can't promise there won't be some trouble." The ghost smirked. "Are you going to tell me that with your powers you never thought of using them for something like," he thought for a moment, "sneaking into a woman's changing room?"

Danny opened his mouth to snap back his response. It would be a lie if something like that hadn't entered his mind. Being able to walk around unseen and through solid objects would allow him to pull a lot of pranks. "Even if I _thought_ about it, that doesn't mean I would _act_ on it."

"Really?" The ghost's eyes widened in disbelief as he gawked at the hero. "Come on. You can be straight with me. I'm not going to go around telling on you."

Danny breathed out a loud, heavy sigh. "While doing something like that might seem fun and harmless, it's not. It's a total invasion of a woman's privacy. Would _you_ like it if a woman with these kinds of abilities were spying on you while you changed?"

"Hey, I know I look good naked." The ghost smirked, a little too cockily.

If he could free his arms from the shadow, Danny would have pinched his nose as he sighed. "Look. I have a sister and a friend who is female. I wouldn't want someone to invisibly spy on them when they were undressing. And if that's how you're going to be using your powers, then I'm not helping you get your friend out of there."

The ghost cursed under his breath. "Fine," he grumbled. "No spying on girls in changing rooms." He made a gestured with his hand, and the shadow pulled away from Danny, freeing him from its body. "But I can't promise Kitty and I won't use our powers in other ways."

"No more breaking into police precincts to knock out the officers?" Danny glared sternly, trying to puff himself up to look more commanding.

"Yeah, okay, whatever." The ghost shrugged. "We just didn't want those cops interrupting us while we talked to that jerk. They'll wake up in like an hour."

Danny held out his hand for the thermos. He didn't like the idea of letting these two ghosts go free, but he wanted his parents' invention back. When the ghost put the thermos in his hand, Danny thought of something. "I don't know exactly what happened to Spike, but I'm pretty sure he spoke to the police about what he saw when m- that girl was killed. They might have him in some sort of custody to keep him safe. You know, wanting to keep their witness protected in case someone wants to eliminate the one person that could identify them as the killer."

The ghost hesitated in releasing his hold on the thermos. "Thanks." His mouth curled in a grin. "I guess you're not too bad. For a goody-two-shoes."

"Uh, thanks. I guess." Danny frowned as he took the thermos. Why did he feel it necessary to tell the ghost about Spike? Maybe with that knowledge, the ghosts would leave things alone and cause no more trouble for the police since their friend was somewhere safe. Turning the thermos over in his hands, he tried to recall what was in his parents' notes and blueprints for the thermos. There should be some sort of release button on it. After all, his parents would want to be able to learn more from the ghost, which they couldn't do if it was stuck inside the thermos.

"What are you waiting for?" the ghost demanded impatiently, and his shadow hissed in response to its master's mood.

"Just give me a moment. This was my first time using this." Danny looked over the thermos again then grinned when he found the release button. He pressed the button and watched as the end of the thermos glowed. The ghost jumped aside to avoid being in the path of the thermos, probably thinking Danny had tricked him. A white mist spilled out of the thermos to lazily roll over the grass of the park. Then the mist rose up in the air, slowly taking the shape of the woman Danny had seen in the holding cell with the other ghost and Gregor. Color blossomed as the mist solidified.

"Babe!" the ghost shouted with a smile spreading onto his face.

The woman opened her eyes, and they flashed red in anger. She slapped him hard across the face, and he held a hand to his cheek, betrayal in his expression. "If you went spying on other women, we are so through!"

"Kitty! Babe!" the ghost pleaded as she huffed and turned her back on him with her arms folded. "You know I'd never cheat on you!"

Kitty turned her head slowly, her eyes narrowing into a glare at the blond ghost, and Danny winced, not wanting to be the blond ghost at the moment. Then she slapped her boyfriend again and continued hitting him. "You say that even though you're always checking out other women! You're lucky I didn't drop your sorry butt years ago."

"Ow! Ow! Hey!" The ghost covered his head to protect it from anymore attacks. "I wasn't serious about that! I was just trying to loosen up this stiff. He makes me want to take him to a bar and get him drunk."

"Wait. I have a question." Danny hesitantly lifted a hand into the air. "You heard what we were saying?"

Kitty halted in her assault on the other ghost. "Well, yeah," she answered with a shrug. The question seemed to work as a distraction, and she stepped over to him then folded her arms. "I don't appreciate being crammed into that thing." Her nose wrinkled as her gaze flicked to the thermos in Danny's hands. "But I'll forgive you since you told us about Spike. We've been worried ever since we couldn't find him where he was hiding out, and we searched all around with no luck. Checking out the police station was our last resort." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Kitty!" the blond ghost complained in only a slightly whiny voice.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Johnny, if you can flirt with other girls, then I can at least give a guy a small kiss of appreciation when he did something nice. He didn't _have_ to tell us what he knew about Spike."

Johnny folded his arms as he turned his head away, grumbling to himself.

"Well," Danny said awkwardly, eager to leave the ghostly couple behind, "helping is what I'm here for. Next time though, maybe just ask without knocking out the officers? If any of the ones you hit with your ability remember what you look like, they might be on the lookout for the both of you. Since you did kind of attack them and cause a mess of trouble."

Kitty frowned when he reminded her of that, and she chewed on her lower lip. Then she turned to Johnny. "Maybe we should lay low for a while."

"I was thinking more of a skipping town sort of thing," Johnny admitted, and his green eyes narrowed when he glanced at Danny. "Spike'll probably be all right. And we always wanted to see more of the world. It seems like a good time to start on that."

Kitty's eyes brightened. "I always wanted to go to Paris!"

"What about that organization you both got mixed up in?" Danny asked hurriedly before the pair decided to speed off into the sunset at that exact moment. "Is there anything you can tell me about it?"

"Not really our problem," Johnny said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his oversized biker jacket.

"There really isn't much to tell." Kitty frowned and almost seemed sorry she could tell him anything. "They taught us to how to use our powers. Then we were sent to scout out for people who were outcasts and wouldn't really be missed if they disappeared. That's all they told us. Why they were looking for such people, we don't know. But we haven't exactly been doing as they wanted."

Danny's shoulders drooped, and he released a deflating breath. He thought maybe he could learn something about this organization from Kitty and Johnny, but like everyone else involved, they knew too little to help him. But they reminded him of Ember. The organization tried to use them, but Kitty and Johnny didn't listen to the orders they were given. Danny almost smirked, but he had to wonder: What was this organization trying to accomplish when they kept using teenagers who ignored their orders? It seemed rather inefficient.

"Sorry we can't be more help," Johnny didn't sound remotely sorry, "but we should probably put some distance behind us before the cops start looking for us."

"We're sorry about the trouble though. But what would you do if a friend suddenly disappeared?" Kitty frowned, her red eyes sad.

Danny turned his gaze away because he was already doing whatever he could to find his sister's killer. If anything happened to Tucker or Sam, he would probably turn the town upside down to find them. Sometimes reason flew out the window when someone important was involved.

"I can understand being worried, but you still shouldn't have stormed into the police station like that. Especially since it seems they're starting to arm themselves to fight ghosts." Danny frowned, recalling the weapon Officer Walker had used. Where did he get it? It wasn't one of his parents' inventions. He would be in trouble if the police armed themselves to fight against ghost. He dreaded the possibility after seeing the damage from Officer Walker's weapon.

"Then we _definitely_ need to get out of here," Johnny said. His expression tried to come off as calm, but his fear seeped into his eyes. "Better to get out now before they start ghost hunting."

"I really shouldn't be letting you walk away." Danny sighed, reaching up to scratch a hand through his white hair. Why did this keep happening? He let Ember go without a fight after what happened in the plaza. Spectra vanished before he could even try to stop her. Now he was going to let these two ghosts skip town? "But I guess other than knocking out a few officers, you didn't really do anything. And the police couldn't hold you anyway." What happened with Police Chief Gray was in part his fault, but it also never would have happened if Officer Walker didn't have that weapon.

Both ghosts flickered their eyes toward the thermos. "And we thank you for not trapping us both in that," Kitty said, wrinkling her nose as she pointed to the thermos. "It's super cramped and uncomfortable in there."

"Right. And we'll be going now that you put that idea in his head." Johnny grabbed hold of Kitty's arm and pulled her along toward a motorcycle waiting not too far from them.

Danny watched them climb onto the motorcycle. It roared to life, and Johnny sped off, driving through trees and bushes in the park until he disappeared for Danny's sight. The motorcycle was impressive, but Danny still thought the one his father gave him was better. His gaze fell to the thermos. He knew now that it worked, at the very least. Shifting to invisible, he took to the sky and flew back home.


	57. Chapter 57

"This is amazing," Tucker said as he lay on Danny's bed and furiously typed at his laptop.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward shift of his weight. "It's really not all that much though. I'm nowhere close to figuring out anything."

"But you have a start," Sam said with an encouraging smile. "It's better than working with absolutely nothing."

Danny nodded agreement, but sometimes, it felt difficult to be positive when he wasn't making any progress. "You can add Walker to the list. I don't know exactly what he's planning, but I think we should keep an eye on him. Even if he has nothing to do with my sister's murder." He frowned, his gaze darkening. "I don't like that weapon he has."

"Unfortunately, Walker has the media believing you were the one who put Valerie's dad in the hospital." Sam shook her head, her hand squeezing into a fist like she wanted to punch something.

"Nothing he can really do about that," Tucker said, looking up from his laptop with a frown. "I doubt they'd give you a fair shot even if you tried to talk to a reporter to give your side of things."

"Not helping, Tucker." Sam glared at him. Her mouth pursed in concentration. Then she turned to Danny. "But maybe you can give an exclusive to someone who can get the story out there. Stupid Lance Thunder would never let you have the chance to say what really happened. But someone else might."

"I don't think you publishing my side of things will help, Sam." Danny didn't think it would be wise to use his friends. He didn't want someone thinking there was any connection between them and Phantom. Then his eyes widened as his mouth quirked in a small smirk. "But maybe if I gave Dash the exclusive-"

"Dash?" Tucker shouted, shooting up from where he lay.

"Yeah! He's popular. People will pay attention if he interviews Phantom." Danny grinned, proud of himself for thinking up this idea. What kind of expression would Dash have when Phantom showed up in front of him? Danny almost laughed trying to imagine it.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tucker looked doubtful.

"I think it'll go all right." Danny walked over to his bed and sat down beside his friend. "But back to the matter at hand, there's also Johnny and Kitty to add. They're friends of Spike and were involved with the organization, somewhat, but they couldn't really provide much information."

"At least now you know that thermos thing works," Sam said.

"Yeah, and I'm glad I was able to get it back." Danny leaned back on his arms, frowning while deep in thought. "What are these people even trying to accomplish? None of this really makes any sense."

"We'll figure it out." Tucker patted him encouragingly on the shoulder.

Danny hoped they would, but he couldn't help feeling doubtful. Pushing himself off the bed, he clapped his hands together. "Well, if I plan to do the interview thing and patrol tonight, I should probably get started." He hoped he could keep the interview short, but with Dash being the one interviewing him, Danny worried the jock would pass out in shock of having the ghost hero appear in front of him. "Uh, do either of you know where he lives?" He had never been to the jock's house, since Dash would never dare to invite over a loser like him.

Sam pulled out her cell phone while Tucker shook his head. "Hm, his address should be listed in the school directory."

"You keep that on your phone?" Danny lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Sam stared back like she couldn't believe the stupidity of his question. "I thought it would be handy." She shrugged and typed away on her phone's screen. "There. I sent you the address," she announced, and a second later, Danny felt his phone vibrate against his hip.

"Thanks." Danny shook his head with a light laugh. "I can't believe I'm actually going to do this."

"Still time to back out." Tucker finished typing then closed up his laptop.

"No, I should really do this. Maybe it won't help anything, but I have to at least try. If I don't, Lancer Thunder and Walker are going to continue ruining Phantom's reputation."

"For your sake, I hope it works," Sam said as she and Tucker walked toward his bedroom door. "Though I don't think there's anything you can do to change the minds of Lance Thunder and Walker."

Danny agreed, but he couldn't worry about just those two people. He needed to focus on the bigger picture. After he and his friends said their goodbyes, Danny closed his door then walked over to his closet to get out his costume. Doubt tried to sneak into his mind as he pulled on his suit. He didn't have the best record with Dash, but that was as Danny Fenton. Dash probably, hopefully, wouldn't try to punch Phantom in the face. After taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, he pulled up his mask and tugged the hood over his head. People would pay attention if Dash spoke out about what happened. He was, after all, the star of Casper High's football team. This was his best option.

With a firm nod, Danny transformed then shifted to invisible. Hoping he could keep things short with Dash, he left his room and flew over his neighborhood. He pulled out his phone and checked the address Sam sent him. In a few minutes, he was hovering in front of the jock's house, which was far less grand than he had envisioned in his head. He thought it would look something similar to Sam or Elle's homes for all the talk Dash did, but it was actually fairly average. Shaking his head, Danny searched out the jock's room. He didn't have the time to waste being underwhelmed by the mundane appearance of Dash's house.

"Dash, we've been over this a dozen times."

Danny paused when he heard the woman's voice. He backtracked a few paces then stuck his head through the wall. Dash's room was what one might expect from a jock. Sports posters hung on the wall. Some clothing littered the floor. Danny spotted a girly magazine sticking out from under the mattress. Most of the books in his room had something to do with football.

"I don't understand math," Dash complained, flipping the book shut and shoving it away from him. It slipped over the edge of the bed and landed on the floor with a thump.

"Let me try to explain it one more time," Star offered. "I know I can make you understand it this time."

"Or maybe we should move on to that lit paper you have to write," Paulina suggested. "I think-"

"No!" Dash shouted, and both women flinched at the anger in his voice. He sighed, hanging his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's just call it a day for now."

"Dash," Paulina frowned, worry etched across her face, "you want to graduate, don't you?"

"I'm sorry I'm not as smart as the rest of you!" Dash pushed himself off the bed and walked away from the two women.

"You _are_ smart, Dash," Star argued. "And I know you can get this. You just need to put in the time and effort."

"My brain is going to explode!" Dash raked a hand through his blond hair. "Can we just pick this up tomorrow or something?"

"Sure," Paulina said, putting a hand on Star's shoulder when she looked like she was going to argue. "Just give us a call when you're ready." She took Star's hand and pulled her friend toward the door.

Once they were gone, Dash walked over to his bed and dropped onto it, burying his face into the pillow. After a moment, he turned his head and mumbled, "This would be easier if Jazz was here."

Danny winced, guilt eating at him for witnessing any of that scene. He knew from Jazz tutoring him that Dash wasn't exactly getting straight A's in his classes, but he never thought about just how much the jock was struggling. Danny waited a few minutes before he tapped lightly on the window.

Dash jerked up on his bed then twisted around to the window. He jumped off his bed in surprise when he spotted Phantom floating outside his bedroom window. It was a comical reaction with how the jock tripped over himself, but Danny couldn't make more than a quiet huff of a laugh. Somehow, it was less funny after seeing Star and Paulina trying to help Dash with his homework.

"Hi," Danny said awkwardly as he floated through the wall into the room. He realized he hadn't thought out exactly what he would say once he was there in front of the jock.

"You!" Dash gasped, his blue eyes growing wide. "You," he repeated in a darker tone, his gaze turning more serious, and angry. He grabbed hold of the front of Danny's suit then shoved him against the wall. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Danny's hands shot up into the air, his eyes growing wide with fear. Dash could be scary when angry. "I know how it looks, but it wasn't me."

"That's not what they're saying on the news," Dash growled out, his fists twisting the material of Danny's suit. "I thought you were supposed to be some kind of hero." Betrayal flashed through his eyes.

"That's why I needed to talk to you." Danny prayed this work because Dash looked like he was about ready to pound Phantom into his floorboards. "I wanted to clear up what happened and get my side of the story out."

"So why come to me?" Dash frowned as his brow furrowed thickly, confusion overpowering his anger.

"Because Lance Thunder would railroad me. The guy hates me and won't pass up any opportunity to smear my name even more," Danny explained, speaking quickly in hopes of keeping the jock from becoming angry again. "But you have a following of people who will listen to you if you wrote up an article about it to post online, and I think you'd at least give me a fair chance at explain what happened."

"And why should I believe you?" Dash narrowed his eyes skeptically, but conflicted about whether to believe him or not.

"Because V- Police Chief Gray was trying to protect me when he got hurt."

"What?" Dash took a step back, his face scrunching up like he couldn't believe the words he just heard. Phantom obviously had to be lying, in his mind.

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised too." Danny released an awkward laugh, relieved to have some distance between the jock and himself.

Dash stared for a good long minute. His mouth pursed as he mentally debated how to handle this situation. "I think you're going to have to explain things from the beginning." Dash walked over to his desk and dropped into the chair. Then he pulled his cell phone over to him and clicked the screen a few times. "Okay. I'm recording now." He held up the phone between them. "So tell me. What really happened that day? Why were you at the police precinct?" Though he was giving Phantom the chance to speak, Dash still had a guarded expression, like he was ready to believe the story was a lie.

Danny meant this to be a truth session, but he realized now he had to do a little fibbing. He couldn't exactly say he went to the precinct to get some information on his sister's murder. "I was on patrol. I do that. You know, circle around town looking for any criminals up to no good. And when I got to the precinct, I got this bad feeling. It's this kind of ghost sense. It lets me know something bad might be happening. So I went into the precinct to investigate."

"Who would be stupid enough to hit a police precinct?" Dash's expression was hard to read, but Danny doubted his explanation was going well.

"That was my thought too. But just in case, I thought it best to take a look around." Danny folded his arms and leaned back against the wall. "There were these two ghosts there. I didn't know what they were up to, but with the bad vibe, I didn't want to just leave them be. I caught one of them, and the other wasn't too happy about that so he chased me. I planned to lead him away from the precinct, but he surprised me. He had this shadow thing that acted under his command. I tried to fight it. That didn't go too well, and I ran into Police Chief Gray then. That's when he told me to get out of there because it wasn't safe. I didn't understand why." He tightened his hold on his biceps and clenched his teeth. "Until a moment later when Officer Walker showed up. He had some kind of weapon that he fired at us. Police Chief Gray shoved me out of the way, and in doing so, he took the hit. It's my fault because he was trying to protect me. But I wasn't the one that fired the blast that put him in the hospital. I would never have done something to hurt him. Police Chief Gray is a good man. He doesn't deserve what happened to him. If I could, I would go back and change what happened so he was never hurt."

"Officer Walker shot him?" Dash stared silently as he mulled over this new information. "Well, I don't know if publishing anything about this will do any good. People aren't going to be willing to believe Officer Walker did something like that. Especially after he and Lance Thunder have painted you up as some kind of menace, your story sounds pretty unbelievable."

"So," Danny hesitated, "you don't believe me?"

Dash frowned, glancing away with the faintest of blushes on his cheeks. "If you hadn't turned up that night, my best friend might have died. You're a hero for saving him. I've been wanting to thank you for that."

"You don't have to thank me." Danny was glad for the mask, which hid any awkwardness and embarrassment showing on his face. "I don't do any of this for thanks."

"Saying that won't stop me from wanting to thank you." Dash leaned back in the chair. "When the news came out, I really didn't want to believe you were the bad guy. You were always _stopping_ the bad guys."

"And that's why I need to do this. Because there are people like you out there," Danny gestured toward the window to indicate the town, "that believe in me, and I don't want to disappoint them because the news is trying to make me look like a villain."

"But the problem is you have no evidence," Dash pointed out, and Danny cringed because everything always came down to needing evidence. "Even if I put this story on the internet, it's still your word against his. And people are more likely to trust Officer Walker and Lance Thunder than us."

Danny sighed and rubbed at his forehead through his mask. He hadn't stopped to consider that point, and he almost couldn't believe he needed Dash to point it out to him. "Evidence will be hard to come by. I wouldn't put it past Officer Walker to get rid of any evidence that doesn't support his version of events. I guess the best way to clear my name is for Police Chief Gray to tell everyone what really happened."

"That won't be easy." Dash frowned. "He's in a coma, and the doctors don't know when he might wake up. Or if he will."

It was like having the wind knocked out of him. Without Valerie's father's testimony, everyone would think Phantom was to blame for what happened at the precinct. Danny knew he wasn't completely innocent in the matter, but people needed to know truth about what happened. "Well, thanks for listening to me," he said as he pushed away from the wall. "I guess I have some evidence to hunt down."

"Well, I-" Dash stuttered, making Danny pause. "I'm no great detective or anything, but I do know his daughter. The Police Chief, that is. Maybe with her help, we could find some way to prove your innocence."

Danny stood in stunned silence, staring at the jock. He couldn't believe Dash was offering to help him. But he knew Dash wouldn't dare to help him if he knew behind the mask Phantom was loser Danny Fenton. "Thanks," Danny managed to say. "I guess I'll see you-"

"Ah, before you go!" Dash put his phone down on the desk. "Could I get you to sign something?" He shot away from his desk and dug around for something behind a dresser. When he returned to where Danny stood, Dash unrolled a scroll of paper to show off a fully colored, poster sized art piece of Phantom, depicting a rather impressive scene right after he took down a criminal. "Do you think, maybe, you could sign it?" He gave a wincing, hopeful smile.

"Ah." Danny shifted awkwardly, never imagining he would be in this kind of situation. "Sure. Yeah." He gestured with his hand like he was signing the air with an invisible pen. "Got something I could write with?"

Dash bobbed his head then grabbed a pen with shiny silver ink from his desk.

Danny gulped as he took the pen then held the poster against the wall. He had never signed anything under the name Phantom. He quickly scratched his ghostly name over one corner of the art piece. "There you go," he announced, handing both pen and poster back to the jock.

"Wow," Dash breathed out as he held the poster out before him. "My friends are never going to believe this."

Danny held back a laugh, wondering if Dash would feel the same after knowing who was behind the mask. "Well, time for me to get on with my patrols. So," Danny stepped back, "see you around." After he gave a little wave, he shifted to invisible then flew out of the bedroom through the wall. Everything involving what happened at the precinct felt like a mess, and Danny wished he had some way to easily fix it all.


	58. Chapter 58

Life was going just great. Each day since the incident, another news report came out complaining about Phantom's activity, mostly led by Lance Thunder, who was gaining a larger role among his news team. Officer Walker had assumed the position of temporary Police Chief while Mr. Gray lay in a coma at the hospital. His first action as Police Chief was to enforce a curfew on Amity Park. Over the days that followed, Danny noticed more officers dressing in white patrolling the town. Danny hated everything that was happening, but without proof, he couldn't do anything about Officer Walker.

Danny ducked as the fist flew at him. The curfew did nothing to stop criminals from coming out to rob stores, most of which closed earlier than usual because of the curfew. Danny was glad to find some criminals still active, so he could release the frustration building up inside him. In his mind, he could hear Jazz telling him it was misplaced aggression and see her disapproving face, but he was afraid if he didn't get it out somehow, he might end up snapping at his parents or friends, or doing something even dumber. Putting that aggression toward criminals seemed like the best outlet.

Another fist came at him. Danny caught the man's wrist. Then with a hard twist, he pinned the arm behind the man's back. "This was a really stupid idea," he informed the thief as he shoved the man against a wall.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?"

Danny sighed, his head hanging slightly when he heard the man behind him speak. "I think I can handle one measly thief." Shortly after Danny came to stop the thief, Dan appeared like he was simply walking by the small mom and pop shop when he spotted Phantom. This was a perfect opportunity to test Star's suggestion, but Danny still hadn't figured out the best way to go about it.

"I was thinking more about a team up."

"I don't team up with murderers." Danny zip tied the thief to a pole bolted to the floor. He began carrying the zip ties with him to use on human criminals so he could leave them tied up for the police.

"What if I promise not to kill anyone? Just, you know, maybe a little maiming."

Danny turned around and glared at Dan. "No maiming."

"Oh!" Dan sat up straighter on the counter. "Does that mean we're teaming up?"

Danny frowned at the excitement in the mercenary's voice. How could a killer sound like a kid waiting to open a present? With a sigh, he rubbed at his forehead. "What's your reason behind this?" He turned fully toward the mercenary as he folded his arms. "I obviously didn't need your help, so there has to be a reason."

Dan tilted his head, leaning over to look at the thief behind Danny. "Well, that guy was easy. You could have beaten him in your sleep."

Danny couldn't argue since the thief was a horrible fighter. He barely even had to try in order to subdue the man, which didn't help much when he wanted to hit something. "I already don't have the best reputation. I doubt hanging around with a mercenary will help improve it."

"I've been good since meeting you. No kills." Dan made an X sign with a finger over his heart. "I swear!"

Danny opened his mouth to question that statement, but he heard police sirens in the distance. "They're responding quicker to crimes. Normally I would say that's a good thing."

"But they seem to have it out for you and those new weapons that jerk's brought in, I'm guessing, are more for attacking you than the criminals."

"Yeah," Danny agreed then sighed. "We better get out of here before they arrive. I don't need them blaming this on me." He walked toward the back of the shop, planning to leave through the back.

Dan hopped down from the counter and quickly fell into step next to him. Then he threw his arm over Danny's shoulders. "So are you ready for some real action?"

"That depends on what you mean by action." Danny eyed the mercenary warily before he shifted them to invisible and phased them out the back of the shop.

Dan sighed heavily as he drew Danny closer to him. "It's been so sad! This stupid curfew has all the good spots closing up early. Where are we supposed to party tonight?"

"Party?" Danny repeated with a crease of his brow as he absently allowed Dan to direct where they walked.

"Yeah! You know, for New Years? It's a great time to get drunk and watch some pretty lights explode through the sky." Dan turned them down a different street. "But thanks to Officer Dickface Walker, the best New Year's eve parties have shut down because of the curfew. Shame the Police Chief is in the hospital. At least he was decent."

"You actually like someone in the police?" Danny stared, his eyes widening a fraction in surprise. But the comment brought back the guilt. They wouldn't have to deal with Officer Walker and his curfew if Mr. Gray didn't get hurt protecting him.

"Some are all right. And that Police Chief was one of them. Now that Officer Walker is running the show, I can see why that Masters guy campaigns and throws a lot of money into making sure the Police Chief stays the same. The world's a much nicer place when Officer Walker isn't running the place."

"Wait." Danny halted, whipping a hand out to the side. When his arm smacked against the mercenary's chest, Dan grunted. "Mr. Masters wants Mr. Gray to be Police Chief?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. But can you blame him?"

"No." But it got Danny thinking. Could there be another reason for Mr. Masters to ensure Mr. Gray became Police Chief? But why? Did he have Mr. Gray in his pocket for getting him the job of Police Chief? Maybe he needed to confront Mr. Masters about this, and the thing with him acting all charming toward his parents.

"So," Dan slapped his hand against Danny's back, "we'll just have to find another way to have some fun. I'm sure there are some other dumb criminals whose heads we can knock together."

Danny shook his head, wondering how he ended up being dragged off by Dan. And why did Dan want to hang around him so much? Things would be easier on him if he went off to do his jobs without Phantom. He wouldn't have to listen to Danny complaining about him killing people. But, like tonight, it almost felt like the mercenary went out of his way to find Phantom.

"Hey!" Dan looped his arms around Danny's neck as he leaned against the young hero's back. "Is that ghost sense thingy telling you anything? There's gotta be someone up to no good."

Sighing, Danny stepped forward, phasing out of the mercenary's hold, and Dan became visible with the loss of contact between them. "No," he grumbled, "zero activity going on right now. And if most people are hanging around at home for New Year's eve since they can't party because of the curfew, then I doubt we'll have much luck finding any criminal activity. And why do you care about stopping criminals anyway?" Danny folded his arms as he eyed the mercenary. "You're not exactly a good guy yourself."

"Maybe I'm turning over a new leaf. Ever think of that?" Dan tapped a finger to his temple. He did mention he hadn't killed anyone recently, though Danny was still skeptical about the comment being true.

Shaking his head, Danny dropped being invisible. "Let's just walk around and see if we find anything going on."

"So what's the story about the Police Chief anyway?" Dan asked as they strolled the streets.

Danny glanced at the mercenary as he remained alert for any sign of trouble. "Haven't you been listening to the news?" He gritted his teeth, anger washing through him again.

"Well, I have." Dan folded his arms behind his head. "But that guy is an idiot and clearly doesn't know the first thing about what really happened." After a few more steps, he added, "And I could never believe something like that. You're too much the hero to put the Police Chief in the hospital."

_Naturally_ , the mercenary would believe him. "It doesn't matter." Danny shook his head. "I can't clear my name without any proof that the one who blasted Police Chief Gray was Officer Walker."

"I should have known it was that jerk!"

Danny smiled despite himself. At least they shared a common hatred of Officer Walker. It was something, he guessed. He nearly jumped when hands landed on his shoulders.

"I've got an idea." Dan pushed Danny forward.

"Wait. Where are we going? I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Have a little faith."

Danny glared flatly before him. "That's going to be hard." After some time of walking around, he recognized where they were. "Why are we going to your safe house?"

"Because you have a lot on your plate and even heroes need a break every once and a while." Dan unlocked and opened the front door when they reached the safe house. "Welcome to mi casa of safety." He kicked the door closed behind them.

"I've been here before."

"Yeah, but you aren't bleeding this time." Dan strolled down the front hall. "So first thing on the list is getting some much needed snacks."

Danny shook his head as he followed after the mercenary. Why was he even bothering to stick around? He could easily disappear and fly away from this place. _Maybe I really do need a break_ , he thought, deciding that must be the only reason for him to stay. Or he could simply have lost his mind. He reached up, raking a hand through his white hair and knocking back his hood. If nothing else, his brain could use a break from thinking.

"And just a few minutes in the microwave," Dan said, slamming the microwave door closed as Danny entered the kitchen.

"What are you making?" Danny hesitated before walking farther into the room.

"Popcorn!" Dan took hold of his shoulders and turned Danny around. "You just go relax in there. I'll get everything ready." After he gave Danny a nudge through the door, Dan went about fixing up their snacks as he whistled some random tune.

Danny walked into the front room then dropped onto the couch with a tired sigh. "This is weird," he mumbled as he leaned back, trying to get comfortable. He closed his eyes for what he meant to be only a second or two, but a light kick to his foot woke him several minutes later.

"Ready for some marathoning?"

Danny tilted his head up to stare at the mercenary who stood before him holding a large bowl of popcorn. "What are we marathoning?" He scooted over on the couch to give the mercenary more room to sit.

Dan sat down, placing the bowl between his legs. "I've got three seasons of Recs and Parks taped. Get ready for some laughs." He dug out the remote from under the couch cushions and flipped on the television. "Want a drink?" He held out a bottle he grabbed from the other side of him.

Danny almost accepted it without thought, but when he saw what was being handed to him, he frowned. "You realize I'm not old enough to drink, right?"

"I wouldn't tell anyone." Dan placed a finger to his lips.

Though he couldn't see behind the mask, Danny could imagine the mercenary's mouth stretching into a smirk. A familiar smirk. He almost dropped the bottle of beer because Dan responded exactly like the hooded man had. What was he supposed to say or do now? Why was it like this? He liked the hooded man. Meanwhile, Dan - If he was honest, there were times he felt comfortable with the mercenary, when he forgot about the whole killing people for money thing.

Dan laughed, heartily, tearing Danny from dwelling on his dilemma. "I'm just playing with you." He nudged the young hero in the ribs. "Look at the cap."

Danny frowned, staring at the label clearly marking the bottle as beer. Tilting the bottle toward him, he checked the cap to find it read: Fitz's Root Beer. After a beat of awkward silence, he mumbled, "Oh." Heat crept onto his cheeks. How did he fall for that twice?

"You're adorable." Dan hit the play button on the remote, and the first episode started. "So can I ask what your plans are for dealing with what happened at the police precinct?" He twisted the cap off his bottle.

"I-" Danny sighed, leaning back against the couch. "I thought getting my side of the story out there would help, but without any evidence, I can't prove that I wasn't the one to attack Police Chief Gray. And Officer Walker is in such a high position now that no one would believe me anyway." Now that he thought on it more, asking Dash to post the article was selfish. Dash would risk drawing Officer Walker's attention if he _had_ posted anything. For all the bad things Dash did to him, Danny didn't want the jock being locked up or worse because of him.

"Hm. Evidence." Dan put one leg up on the table in front of them. "I could get that for you."

"Assuming there is - You're not killing anyone!" Danny twisted his head toward Dan and glared at the mercenary.

Dan waved him off, his gaze remaining forward to watch the television. "Killing would be counterproductive here. Besides, I know your feelings on the topic. When it comes to you, I won't kill."

Danny nodded slowly as he turned back to the television. "Why?" Thinking on the mercenary's words, he creased his brow. "You keep saying because of me you won't kill."

Dan snorted. "Because you're a hero! I'm not going to tarnish your reputation." He added in a mumble, "If I can help it."

"My reputation isn't that great to begin with because of stupid Lance Thunder." Danny's hands squeezed around the bottle he held. They were about halfway through the first episode when Danny needed to ask something. "Why did you become a mercenary in the first place? You can get paid for doing stuff that doesn't involve killing. So," he scratched at the back of his head, "why do you need to kill for money?"

"Are we to origin stories already?" Dan rubbed at his chin in thought. "I'm sure people have been waiting for that."

"What?"

"Nothing." Dan shook his head. "Now, where should I begin?"

"Your tragic childhood?" Danny took a guess.

"It wasn't all that bad. Well, until I was nine at least. My parents were pretty great actually."

Danny put his bottle of root beer on the table then drew up his knees to listen to the mercenary's tale. "What happened when you were nine?"

"My parents were killed right in front of me," Dan answered bluntly, his voice becoming flat and lifeless.

Danny tensed, his eyes growing wide. Maybe he didn't witness the exact moment when his sister was shot, but he was there, he held her, at the time of her passing. His arms hugged around his waist. He couldn't imagine how much worse it would feel if he saw something like that at the age of nine.

"One thing you need to know about my parents is that they liked weapons." Dan held up a hand even though Danny wasn't about to interrupt him. "I don't mean they liked to walk around populated areas carrying weapons and stuff like that. They were into the history of weapons and liked to collect things. They had all kind of things. Guns, swords, spears, and other stuff that I can't even name off the top of my head." He spoke fondly, and Danny could imagine a gentle smile behind the mask. "A lot of the parents who knew mine always had bad things to say. How dangerous it is to raise a child in a house with so many weapons. What if I decided to play with them and got hurt? But see, my parents did understand that. They were always teaching me stuff about weapons so I would know how to use them and the history behind them and that they weren't toys to be played with. So that night, this serial killer breaks into our house. He killed my parents, and I was pretty much pissing myself in terror. But before he turned on me, I grabbed one of the throwing knives from display on the wall. I got him right here." Dan pointed to the side of his throat. "Pure luck. I was shaking like a leaf."

"I-" Danny worked his mouth open and close. But how was he supposed to respond to a story like that? "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Dan shrugged, glancing away as he rubbed a finger under his nose. "I didn't have any other family, so I was shoved into the system after some court appointed therapy. Apparently they like to make sure little kids who kill serial killers in self defense aren't completely messed up in the head." He stared at Danny. "No comment there?"

Danny shifted slight then shrugged. "I don't think I'll ever understand killing for money. But I don't think I would go so far as to say you're completely insane." When he confronted Spike, he might have actually killed the man in his rage. It was only knowing his sister, his parents, his friends, and Lancer would be disappointed in him that stopped him. He valued their opinions of him far too much to turn into a vengeful murderer. Dan, on the other hand, had his own life on the line. If he hadn't killed the serial killer, the man would have killed him instead.

"Maybe I should leave it at that then."

"What?" Danny gasped. "There's more?"

Dan nodded then ran a hand over his head like he was trying to decide where to begin. "I got adopted when I was almost ten. It was fine. For about six months. Then the parents started showing their true colors. Well, the dad was a workaholic. He also liked to spend his nights out. With other partners. The mom was," Dan rubbed a hand on his thigh, "abusive. She'd hit me all the time. But the worst was when she drank. She'd shove be down then - Well, you don't need those details. It went on for about eight or nine months before the police caught up to her. Apparently, I wasn't the first child she had abused, and she had fled to another state to avoid arrest. I had to testify against her. She went to jail, and a week later, she was found dead in the showers."

"I - Does any part of your life get better?" Danny didn't think he could listen to much more. How could anyone have all that happen to them when they were still so young and not grow up to have more than a few mental problems?

Dan leaned over with a distinct impression of smirking. "I met you."

Danny swallowed, his stomach twisting uncomfortably with the mercenary's closeness. "You're so cheesy." He placed a hand over Dan's face then pushed him away. "But if you're going for being the Cheese King, you might have some competition."

Dan gasped, slapping a hand over his chest. "There's someone else telling you cheesy lines? I'm hurt!"

Danny laughed, shaking his head at the mercenary.

"Ah!" Dan was in his face again, poking at Danny's sides with his fingers. "Is that all it takes to get a laugh out of you?"

Danny caught Dan's hands, and they struggled with Danny trying to keep the mercenary from poking at his sides again. "Oh, is that what this was all about? Getting me to laugh?"

"Not just laugh." Dan's forehead was almost pressed against Danny's. "You looked really tense. I thought a night to relax would help. You're going to wear yourself out getting all angry or hurt if you let the anger blind you in a fight."

Danny blinked, absorbing the mercenary's words. "Wait." He used his super strength to force Dan's hands away from him. "Why do you even care so much about my well being?"

Dan stared at him, their faces too close, and Danny gulped. "I can't admire you being a hero just because I'm a mercenary? Do you think I'm so immoral that I can't respect you for sticking to your ideals of not killing? Do you think I would ask to team up with you if I didn't like you even a little?"

"I-" Danny turned his gaze away, his cheeks burning. Why did he feel like he just got some kind of love confession? More importantly, why was he blushing and getting all flustered about it? "I guess I didn't think about it. I just," he shrugged, "figured you liked teasing me."

"Oh, teasing is most definitely fun. Especially when you give cute reactions."

Danny swallowed, his throat feeling tight. In the next second, his back slammed against the floor. He didn't think his cheeks could feel any hotter until he heard Dan snicker. After sliding out from under the couch, Danny stood, feeling sick with embarrassment. Could look any more like a spazz in front of the mercenary? He resisted the urge to smack himself in the face for feeling like a jittery fourteen year old dealing with his first crush on someone.

"See?" Dan leaned back, settling back onto his side of the couch. "Cute."

Danny took his seat again and gave Dan a shove with his elbow. "Shut up. Let's finish watching the show." He ignored the smug hum from the mercenary, but the arm thrown over the back of the couch was a little harder to ignore. He focused on the television as the next episode started.


	59. Chapter 59

His brow creased as he stirred from his sleep. Something was definitely not right, and it took about two seconds for him to snap to full wakefulness when it hit him. Danny did not fall asleep in his bed like he did every night. Instead of a nice soft pillow, his head rested a rather well muscular chest. Gulping, he cracked open his eyes then tilted his head upward. Dan still wore his mask, and Danny could only hope the mercenary was sleeping.

_No need to panic_ , Danny thought as he sat up, being careful not to disturb Dan. _If I'm lucky, I can still make it home without my parents realizing I was out all night_. When he had successfully extracted himself, he stood, placing a hand to his chest as he sighed in relief. He couldn't believe he stayed the whole night to watch television, but the night off to relax felt good. Ever since the accident, it seemed like he never had the time to simply kick back and be a normal teenager again. His mind kept working overtime as he tried to solve the mysteries piling up around him.

When he lowered his gaze, he came to a startling realization. He had reverted to human during the night! Danny quickly switched back to Phantom then shifted to invisible so he could yank down his mask without worrying about revealing his face if Dan woke up. He breathed in deeply, glad for the fresh air. Sleeping all night with the mask on was a horrible idea. The thing smelled and made the air stale. In future, he would have to be careful not to make a similar mistake. But did Dan catch him after turning back to human? Danny rubbed at his forehead, praying the mercenary never saw the change.

Dan stirred, and Danny tensed, watching the mercenary with wary eyes. It would be easy to slip out of the house without Dan knowing. Danny inched toward the door of the room but froze when Dan sat up with a loud yawn, stretching his arms into the air. Then his head turned from side to side, and he twisted around to search the room.

"I guess he left," Dan mumbled, leaning forward to rub his hands over his masked face. "Should have known."

Danny frowned at the misery tingeing the man's voice. Dan usually spoke with such confidence, like nothing ever got him down and he could accomplish anything by sheer force of will. Now he almost sounded like he lost all that and was left with a doubting, broken man. Danny quietly backed up another step, not liking to witness this side of the mercenary.

"Guess I can take this," Dan reached behind him, "off." He pulled the back of his mask up then a phone rang. The mask went back down, and Danny nearly cursed out loud. He almost got to see the mercenary's face! Dan dug out his phone from the boot of his costume, and he stared for a curious minute when he saw who was calling. He got up from the couch then walked away into the kitchen.

Danny hesitated. Should he follow to hear the conversation? He chewed on his lower lip. It could be nothing, simply someone Dan knew calling to catch up with the mercenary. Or it could be about a job which involved killing someone. _He did say he wouldn't kill someone where I'm involved_. His cheeks warmed a touch remembering _that_ part of their conversation last night. And he needed to hurry home before his parents discovered he was missing.

Leaving the safe house, Danny flew straight home. He could deal with Dan and whatever job he was hired to do later. His parents' anger was something he definitely wished to avoid. When he reached his house, he entered his room. Then, stumbling about, he quickly changed out of his costume and into some sweats and a T-shirt. He ran his hands through his hair to give it that mussed, just woke up look.

Yawning, Danny left his room. He couldn't help wondering if maybe he should have stayed to at least tell Dan goodbye instead of simply disappearing on him, but it was too late now. He was already home and didn't plan on turning around to head back to the safe house. Dan might not even still be there if he had already left for whatever job he was hired to do.

When he hit the bottom of the stairs, Danny paused as the front door opened and his parents walked into the house. "Are," his brow creased, "you just getting home?"

His mother huffed as she unslung what might be a rocket launcher type weapon from across her back. "I don't even want to talk about it." She stormed off toward the kitchen.

Danny lifted his eyebrows in surprise before turning to his father, who shut the door after them.

His father shook his head. "We spent the night looking for any ghost activity, but the police didn't approve of us being out after the curfew." He followed his wife toward the kitchen.

"Wait. So does that mean you were arrested?" Danny jogged to keep up with his parents. "Were you in jail all night?"

"They wanted to arrest us," his mother said, placing the rocket launcher down on the kitchen table. "Honestly, I don't even know why they decided to go through with this silly curfew thing."

"You should have seen your mother arguing with them." His father grinned, blue eyes fixed on his wife, and Danny pretended to ignore the dreamy expression on his face. "I almost thought that greenie cop would start wetting himself with all his stuttering and apologizing." He leaned over toward Danny. "Your mom really knows how to drive fear into men when she tries."

Danny cracked half a smirk. "And I thought she only did that with us."

"We had a lock on a signal," his mother said, frustration growing in her voice. "But because they stopped us, we lost it. We were so close to finding a ghost!" She slammed a fist down on the table with a loud bang. Then she sighed as she collapsed into the chair. "Is meeting a ghost really too much to ask for?"

Danny chewed on his lower lip. He hated how miserable his parents sounded when their hopes of finding a ghost were dashed. There had to be some way he could do this one thing for them. Maybe he could get one of those little blob ghosts to appear before his parents so they could catch it and study it. Actually, he was a little curious about those blobs himself. Were they another variety of ghost? Because they didn't act like him or the other ghosts he had met.

"I was wondering," Danny said, scratching his cheek with one finger, "is it uncommon for a ghost not to realize they are, you know, dead?" Ember had zero idea she was a ghost, but Johnny and Kitty had known exactly what they were from the start after their deaths.

His mother hummed thoughtfully as she put a hand to her chin. "I suppose it is possible. If it were sudden, it might not register in the ghost's consciousness while they're forming, so they might continue acting as if they were still alive." She frowned, a wrinkle forming on her brow. "But that makes me worry about how they might react once they learn they're dead. For some, they might react violently, and we would definitely want to avoid that if they might cause harm to innocent bystanders."

Danny nodded in understanding. The threat of violence to the people out for the lighting ceremony at the plaza was one reason that kept him from revealing the truth to Ember. He didn't want her to react badly if she knew she was a ghost. "I guess you need to approach those ghosts cautiously, huh?"

His parents nodded. "Oh, I hope Officer Walker doesn't think to go after them!" his mother said with a crossed expression. "He has absolutely no idea what he's doing. He'll just make the situation worse."

"Not to mention, he has no way to contain a ghost. He's blowing this whole thing with Phantom out of portion," his father added with a shake of his head. "Well, I hope you don't mind if we skip breakfast this morning." He patted a hand on Danny's shoulder. "I think we're going to go up to bed to get some sleep after being out all night."

Danny shook his head. "Sounds like you could use the sleep. Sorry you didn't find a ghost."

"Don't worry." His father smiled, a bit forcibly. "We'll find a ghost one of these days."

"We'll see you a bit later." His mother got up and kissed him on the side of his head.

When they were gone, his mother taking the rocket launcher with them, Danny sighed in relief. His parents had no idea he had stayed out all night. He couldn't let that happen again. What kind of hero gets grounded by his parents for being out past curfew? Cujo trotted into the kitchen and sat down in front of him. With a laugh, Danny knelt and patted the puppy on the head.

"You probably want to go out, huh?" For an answer, he received a bark. Danny took Cujo outside and followed after the playful puppy as he ran around the backyard.

Once Cujo did his business, Danny brought the puppy back inside and fed him. He fixed a quick breakfast for himself as he thought about his conversation with his parents. Officer Walker had a terrible obsession with catching Phantom. If he was getting ghost hunting equipment from someone other than his parents, he could be putting the entire town in danger. He already showed he didn't care who he hurt in his pursuit of capturing Phantom, or the destruction he left in his wake. Danny needed to find some way to prove Officer Walker was the one who put Mr. Gray in the hospital quickly. It wasn't only for the sake of clearing Phantom's name. He needed to do it for the protection of the town.

After he washed the dishes, Danny headed back to his room, with a satisfied puppy bouncing up the stairs behind him. He raked a hand through his raven hair, still hardly able to believe Dan and the hooded man were the same person. "How can I like him?" he questioned the puppy once he closed his bedroom door behind them. He walked over to his bed and dropped onto it with a whump. Cujo jumped onto the bed and flopped next to him, pressing a wet nose against Danny's neck.

Dan wasn't a horrible, awful person. Danny got to see some good sides to the mercenary. Cujo definitely liked him. Children seemed to like Dan too. Danny enjoyed hanging out with him as the hooded man, but even as Dan the mercenary, he wasn't bad to be around. Everything came back to the killing part of his job though. Danny couldn't imagine killing for money. He almost killed Spike in his anger and wish for revenge after Jazz's murder, but he managed to pull back to himself before doing it.

"But he won't kill where I'm involved," he mumbled. It wasn't a complete end to Dan killing people, but it meant something. A mercenary actually _quit_ killing for him, or Phantom really. Danny buried his face in his bed with a groan. He wished he could get advice from Jazz about this. "Maybe I could talk to Tuck or Sam." He winced at the idea since he hadn't told them much about Dan. "They'll probably yell at me for keeping secrets from them." But with so much happening lately, it was hard remembering everything he had and hadn't told them. He also wanted to sort out his own feelings about Dan before telling them about him.

Rolling off his bed, Danny walked over to his desk to grab his phone. "Well, I should get it over with." He typed out a text to his friends. "They're yelling will only be worse if I keep putting it off." After getting dressed with his suit under his clothes, he grabbed his bag and exited his room. He wrote a note for his parents, letting them know he was going to meet with his friends. Then he left the house and headed for the Nasty Burger.

On his way, Danny spotted Paulina and Star, who seemed to be showing off a new pair of earrings to her friend. He hated knowing about Paulina's unrequited feelings for Star because it would be nice if they could find happiness with each other. But life wasn't always like television. The one crushing on their friend didn't always get that person in the end. Paulina had to suffer bottling those feelings away while pretending to be happy for Star and her boyfriend. The whole situation sucked! But time would pass, and Paulina would probably find someone else who could return her feelings.

A chill tickled the back of his neck. Danny ducked into the shop at the corner of the block and slipped into the bathroom at the back while the cashier was too busy flipping through a magazine. Shaking his head as he changed into his costume, he couldn't believe something was happening this early in the day. When he was ready, he left the store invisibly then followed his ghost sense down an alley.

Halfway down the alley, he spotted a short man with a bushy mustache. Had he seen this man before? There was something familiar about him, but Danny didn't have the time to puzzle out where he might have seen the man. A taller, muscular man had a hand fisted into the mustached man's suit and lifted him a few feet off the ground. Whatever the confrontation was about, Danny was going to put a stop to it. He charged forward, grabbing hold of the mustached man and phasing him out of the dark skinned man's hold.

"Get out of here," Danny told the short man, turning visible as he placed himself between the two men.

"You-"

"What are you doing?" roared the man, looming over Danny. His bright green hair stuck up in a line down the center of his head. His voice sounded oddly familiar, though Danny thought he would remember encountering a man like this one dressed in leather pants and big boots.

"I don't know exactly what's going on here," Danny replied, refusing to be intimidated by the man, "but I'm not going to let you continue harassing this man."

"Harassing?" The Mohawk man blinked then threw back his head as he laughed. When he snapped his head back down, the amusement disappeared from his face. His expression twisted into anger as he drew back his fist. He swung, but Danny shifted to intangible seconds before the punch could strike him.

"Go!" Danny shouted again, reaching back to the mustached man to shove him away from them. Something didn't seem quite right. His ghost sense was going crazy, and the chill made his bones ache. Slowly, he turned his head to glance over his shoulder. His hand didn't rest on the man's shoulder like he expected. Instead, his hand landed on the head of a rather large tiger. He snapped it back before the beast could bite off his hand. Where did that tiger come from? He held his hands before him as he stepped away from the tiger, which growled dangerously.

"Such a gullible fool." A hand caught Danny by the throat, lifting him off the ground, and Danny clawed at the hand as he gasped. "Play the victim and little Mr. Hero comes running to the rescue."

The tiger morphed back into the mustached man, and Danny's eyes widened. That was a new trick! "Didn't I tell you it was the perfect trap, Skulker?" His mouth curled into a smug smirk. "Things will be easier without him running around to interfere."

How could he fall for a trap like this? Danny could have kicked himself for stupidly rushing in to save someone. "Who are you?" He glared at the man before him. Maybe he could at least get some information from them. "What are you after?"

"You don't need to worry about those answers." The mustached man snorted a laugh. "You won't need to worry about anything soon."

"I get my prize though, right?" Skulker questioned, yanking Danny closer to him. When he glanced out the corner of his eye, Danny could see a leering smirk on the man's face.

"Of course." The mustached man waved off the question like it meant nothing to him. He didn't care what happened to Phantom so long as the hero was no longer active.

_No answers, huh?_ Danny sighed in disappointment. From the way they talked, he thought maybe they could be connected to the people who killed his sister. But if they weren't going to give him answers, he would simply have to capture them to stop them from doing any harm to innocent people. He turned intangible with the plan to slip free of Skulker's hold. It, however, didn't go as expected. Panic slowly crept through him. Why couldn't he phase himself free? He clawed at the hand, trying to pry away the fingers.

"I think he's realizing he can't use his little trick to escape." Mr. Mustache's eyes glowed green, his expression twisting to become more sinister.

Danny gulped. He needed to get out of this situation. And fast! _Think!_ he ordered, frustration and anger making his skin tingle with a familiar sensation. He concentrated on the feeling, the same one that created the little flickers of green on his fingertips in the cemetery. Clockwork told him about the new power because he needed to be prepared, though for what Danny still didn't know. When the feeling had built up, Danny let it explode outward like a giant shockwave. The two men were forced away from him, thrown down the alley. Danny hit the ground, dropped to his knees, then pitched over onto his side. His vision blurred as a green field around him slowly dissolved away.

Mr. Mustache was already climbing back to his feet, and he did _not_ look happy with Phantom learning a new ability. Danny pushed himself up, but his body felt like lead was running through his veins. Nothing wanted to work. His head pounded, and his vision kept fading in and out. Maybe he shouldn't attempt something like that again. Or at least, not until he learned better control over it. Mr. Mustache stormed toward him, and Danny would bet Mr. Mohawk was closing in from the other side.

Someone grabbed hold of him. Danny blinked as the ground grew farther and farther away, leaving behind two extremely angry men in the narrow alley. His sluggish mind refused to process what was happening. They swerved hard to one side as a blast shot past them.

"Stop being such dead weight," his rescuer ordered, grunting in the effort to pull him up. "I'm gonna drop you if you won't move."

The voice helped to jerk him from his stupor. His body still felt heavy, but with his rescuer's help, he managed to climb onto the hover board, which he planned to marvel over at a later time. He twisted his head around and stared up at the woman whose face was hidden behind the visor of a black helmet. Her black suit with the red pattern was impressive too.

"I can't believe I'm saving your butt."


	60. Chapter 60

To be honest, Danny couldn't believe he was being rescued either. It was kind of embarrassing, needing someone to save him. He thought learning new abilities would make him stronger, but that burst of energy he expelled left him drained. If his mysterious rescuer hadn't shown up, he would be at the mercy of those two men. Danny absently rubbed at his throat. Why couldn't he phase through the man's hold back there? It made no sense. Unless the man possessed some kind of invention like what his parents might create to stop a ghost from escaping their grasp.

He was jostled from his thoughts when the hover board came to a sudden stop. Danny grabbed hold of the sides, bracing himself before he could pitch forward over the edge and tumble off it onto the rooftop. Climbing off the board, which remained hovering a few inches from the surface of the roof, he stumbled, his legs feeling like jelly. He made a mental note to practice more with the ability Clockwork showed him. He didn't want to be in another situation like the one just now. He couldn't rely on someone coming to his rescue every time he drained his energy in one big attack.

"Uh, thanks," he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at the strange woman. At the sound of a click, he gulped. The barrel of a rifle was pointed at his face with only a matter of meters between them.

"I don't want your thanks," she snapped as she kept the rifle steady, which increased Danny's nervousness. "I only saved you because I couldn't allow those jerks to kill you."

"Okay," Danny said slowly, side eying the woman. "I don't know what this is about. But can't we do this without," he pointed at the rifle, "dangerous weapons being involved?"

"I feel safer dealing with you when I have something that can hurt you if you turn violent." Her voice was aggressive and tinged with anger, and Danny suspected she already had him pegged as a villain.

_Thanks, Lance Thunder_ , Danny thought grimly. With a frown, he gave the woman a careful look over. Her suit was well crafted, definitely something Tucker would be jealous of, and Danny thought it had a sort of futuristic vibe to it. The hover board was awesome. He wanted to take it apart and see how it was built. He loved flying. It was an amazing, freeing feeling. But who could resist a hover board? It was like something out of a movie! But her rifle was an issue. He squinted as he stared at every inch of it, examining it in as much detail as he could from a distance. It reminded him of something from one of his parents' old notes, from their college years perhaps, but it was different. It had someone else's tweaks added to it.

"You might feel safer with one that works though," Danny said with a roll of one shoulder. From the setup of the rifle, he could see it would definitely not fire like it was supposed to, and he thought it was that way on purpose. Whoever gave her this weapon didn't want her to actually use it against someone, most likely him.

"What?" she demanded, turning the barrel away from him as she looked at the rifle. Then it snapped back toward him, Danny automatically shooting his hands into the air. "Don't try to trick me."

"I'm not! Go ahead and give it try if you don't believe me." When she pulled the trigger, Danny flinched instinctively. Slowly, he cracked open an eye when nothing happened.

"I can't believe he would do this!" Her grip tightened on the rifle, and Danny didn't need to see her face to know she was furious.

Danny held out his hands. "If you don't mind," he shrugged, "can I take a look?"

She hesitated, eying him from behind her helmet's visor. "Why?"

"It doesn't even work. So what's the harm?"

After some internal debate, she seemed to agree with his comment. She handed over the rifle, and Danny felt like a kid receiving a gift. He turned the rifle over in his hands, carefully examining it up close. His head bobbed as he made mental notes on the design. It wasn't perfect and not quite the same level as what his parents invented nowadays, but the potential was there. He made a few tweaks here and there. The process would be easier with tools, but he had to work with what he had, which was nothing. After some time, which probably felt like an eternity to the woman who tapped her foot impatiently on the hover board, Danny handed it back to her.

"Give it a try now," he suggested, grinning to himself.

Whoever this woman was, she was far from trusting. She glanced over the rifle then tilted her head up again to look at him. For a brief moment, Danny feared she would shoot at him, which he realized was a completely idiotic move on his part. Why hand back a working weapon to someone who clearly wouldn't hesitate to shoot him? But she turned away from him and aimed at a point near the edge of the roof. When she pulled the trigger this time, she jerked back, not prepared for the kickback of the weapon. A bolt of pinkish energy shot out of the barrel then struck close to the roof's edge. Electric bolts arced from where the energy hit, striking the rooftop to leave little scorch marks. Danny swallowed, his throat tightening as he watched the display. Whoever designed the weapon was both smart and on the deadly side. His parents would be impressed with the rifle, and he admitted it would come in handy against dangerous ghosts, but it still left him feeling uneasy.

"Why would you fix it?" she asked curiously, turning back to Danny. "I wouldn't have been able to hurt you. I wasn't a threat."

Danny shrugged. "A show of good faith?" He had no other explanation, except his own stupid curiosity about the rifle. Maybe he had a bit more of his parents in him than he thought because he could definitely see his parents fussing over the rifle, wanting to see how it was put together and tweak it to improve it. "Look. You saved me back there." He threw an arm out to the side gesturing in that direction though he couldn't tell from which way they actually came. "So I'd really rather not fight you."

She eyed the weapon in her hand, like she was considering whether or not to use it on him. "This won't come to a fight as long as you answer my questions honestly."

"Of course." Danny bobbed his head, though he thought the dramatics were a little unnecessary.

"What were you doing at the police precinct that day?"

Danny stiffened at the question. He hadn't known what to expect from the mysterious woman keeping her face hidden. The incident at the precinct wasn't the first thing to pop into his mind. "Why do you want to know?" His brow creased, and his mouth thinned. Who exactly was behind that visor?

She pointed the barrel at him, and Danny immediately raised his hands. "I'm the one asking the questions."

Danny sighed out heavily. Why did it seem like he was the one never getting answers? "I sensed something wasn't quite right so I went to check on it."

"So you didn't go there with the plan to attack my da- the Police Chief?"

Danny jerked, his eyes growing wide when he heard the woman's slip up. _Supernova, it's Valerie!_ He wasn't even sure why he was surprised by this revelation. She was doing exactly what he did after his sister was killed. The only difference was Valerie didn't have any powers like he did. His gaze dipped to the hover board then shifted to the rifle in her hands. At least she didn't come into this without any way to defend herself.

"I know how the news is making that incident look," Danny said cautiously. This was his chance to explain himself to the person who mattered most. If he did this right, he might be able to stop any plans of vengeance from Valerie. "Police Chief Gray is a good person, and I _never_ wanted him to get hurt because of me."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Her words were slow as she processed what he told her.

"A ghost made the ceiling cave in, and I saved the Police Chief from being crushed. When Officer Walker showed up, the Police Chief warned me to get away. I hesitated, and because of that, the Police Chief took the hit from Officer Walker when he tried to save me."

Valerie snorted. "I'm supposed to believe that an officer of the law fired on the Police Chief?"

"I know without proof no one is ever going to believe me. But think about it! Officer Walker benefited from the Police Chief getting hurt, didn't he? He's the one in charge now. Do you really think I wanted that? No one wants that jerk in a position of power. Look what he's already done. He's enforcing that ridiculous curfew. And I'm sure that's only the beginning."

The rifle remained pointed at him, but her hold faltered. Then Valerie lowered the barrel. "I don't know if I should believe anything you say. But Officer Walker is a problem." He grip tightened on the weapon. Anger practically radiating from her.

Danny tentatively stepped closer to her. When she didn't immediately shove the barrel of the rifle right in his face, he carefully placed a hand on her shoulder. "I've lost someone important to me. I know what it's like to be angry and want to find someone to pin the blame on. But you can't let those emotions consume you. Don't become someone that person wouldn't be proud of."

Surprisingly, Valerie didn't shrug away from him or try to smack his hand off her shoulder. "There's definitely something going on with Officer Walker," she said after a lengthy moment of silence. "You must have noticed more of officers patrolling town dressed in all white." When Danny nodded, she continued, "Not all of them are police officers. It seems like these outsiders are paired off with actual officers when they patrol. And the outsiders aren't exactly caring about any property damage they do."

"This is actually why I need to find a way to prove Officer Walker was at fault and put the Police Chief in the hospital," Danny said in a serious tone. "He's only going to do more harm than good for Amity Park."

"So," Valerie's gaze remained on the weapon in her hands before her head tilted up to face him, "are you proposing we work together to prove what a monster Officer Walker really is?"

"Only if you want to," Danny said, pulling his hand away from her shoulder. "I completely understand if you prefer to do your thing solo."

Valerie nodded slowly, like she was debating the benefits of working with Phantom. After another moment, she slung the rifle over her back. "From all your running around fighting criminals, I'm guessing you probably haven't found out anything about Jazz's murder."

Danny sighed heavily. "I keep hoping I've found a lead, but then it turns they don't... know..." He trailed off as her comment replayed in his head. His mouth snapped shut with an audible click of his teeth. He eyed Valerie nervously, muscles growing tense as panic built inside him.

"You totally just gave yourself away, Danny." Valerie shook her head, and Danny had the distinct feeling she thought he was an idiot. "First of all, the only person I can think of who recently lost someone important is you. Phantom only showed up right after Jazz's murder. And I'm fairly certain you learned how to fix something like this," she gestured to the rifle with a thumb over her shoulder, "from your parents."

"Why would you think something like that?" Danny laughed, weakly, with a sick feeling inside. He had allowed his identity to slip again. How could he be certain Valerie wouldn't go running to her A List friends to blab about his secret?

"I got to hear a lot of things from my dad. Do you really think I wouldn't have overheard the conversations he had with your parents about the ghost hunting equipment they invent?" Valerie folded her arms, shifting her weight so her hip jutted out to one side. "Even though he pushed for getting a hold of your parents' inventions, Officer Walker always sounded like he didn't have any faith in them actually working."

"Since they haven't found any ghosts, it's hard for them to test if their inventions actually work or not. And they don't exactly believe in arming the police with weapons that could do more harm than good because they're untested."

Valerie nodded. "That's what my dad kept saying too." In a moment of hesitation, uncertainty flowed through her body language. "Can I ask something?"

Danny shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with a simple question.

"How exactly did this," Valerie waved a hand, gesturing to all of him, "happen? Is the suit some kind of invention by your parents?"

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. The question sounded simple, but the answer was complicated and one he didn't exactly want to go into great detail with someone who was hardly a friend. "It, um - Yes, let's go with the suit thing."

"Right. Okay. _That_ was believable." Valerie snorted at his response. "But I get it. I won't push for answers." She half turned away from him and placed a hand to her visor, covering where her eyes were. "I can't believe it! _You_ saved Kwan! You, Danny Fenton! I mean, we, the A List, haven't exactly been nice to you since freshmen year."

"Well, Kwan's nice to everyone."

Valerie laughed. "Maybe too nice sometimes."

Danny smiled with a small shake of his head. "But even if it was someone other than Kwan, I would have done the same. No matter how poorly you've treated me, I wouldn't wish death on any of you."

"You and Kwan are _definitely_ cut from the same cloth. Idiots who are too nice and will throw yourself on the line to save someone else."

Danny never thought about it, but being compared to Kwan didn't feel like such a bad thing. "It's not like I started this whole thing with the intention of becoming some kind of hero. I just wanted to find the guy that killed my sister."

"If I come across any clues in my dad's stuff, I'll pass them along."

"Thanks." Danny bobbed his head. "I really appreciate that." An awkward silence fell over them. "So, uh, what do you plan to do now?"

"If I've learned anything from my dad, it's hunting down the truth. Officer Walker thinks he's too smart to be caught, and that's why he'll make mistakes. I just need to find the evidence he missed and then I'll nab him."

"When you say it, I can definitely believe you'll do it."

"This is about my dad." Valerie's voice turned sad. "I can't fail."

"You won't," Danny said encouragingly. "You'll get him for sure. And you're not alone. If you ever need my help, just give me a call."

"And you'll be there?" Valerie teased, and Danny wished she wasn't wearing the visor because he was certain this was one of those rare times she would actually smile at him.

"Something like that." Danny chuckled, knowing it probably sounded cheesy.

"You might want to activate your suit, or whatever gives you your powers before someone catches you though." Valerie tossed him a wave before she took off on the hover board.

Danny dropped his gaze. "Shooting star," he muttered when he saw he had reverted back to human at some point. Groaning, he rubbed his hands over his masked face. He _definitely_ needed to work on that new power so something like this didn't happen in the middle of a fight.


	61. Chapter 61

Danny collapsed onto the bench opposite his friends. "I am so sorry," he said between pants after having ran all the way to the Nasty Burger. "I got a little-"

"Please drink something before you pass out," Sam interrupted, shoving her glass of water at him.

Danny greedily gulped down half the glass before setting it back down on the table. His friends looked mildly miffed about his tardiness when he was the one who called the meeting, but concern etched into the lines of their faces. They knew he wouldn't have shown up late if something important hadn't come up. He waited a few more moments, until he felt relatively normal, then attempted speaking again.

"I ran into a little problem on the way here," he explained, leaning on the table and half wanting to just pass out there for a while.

"Normal crime or supernatural related?" Sam questioned in a lower voice.

"You didn't bring your motorcycle?" Tukcer leaned over to look out the window, scanning the lot.

"I prefer keeping it in one piece," Danny explained. He was learning there was more to some of the A List than he originally thought, but he wouldn't put it past some of the others to take one look at his motorcycle and decide to wreck it. "But back to-" He caught himself, gulping when he saw Valerie enter the Nasty Burger. Her green eyes flicked toward him, and for a moment, they stared at each other. Then Valerie turned away, lifting her head high in the air as she walked past their table to where the A Listers sat a few tables away. Danny relaxed. Of course Valerie wouldn't say anything. They had appearances to keep up, after all.

"Okay. What was all that about?" Sam demanded, frowning after she witnessed the brief exchange.

Danny tossed a glance over his shoulder, but Valerie, along with the rest of the A List, ignored him. "I think perhaps we should talk about stuff where we don't have to worry about being overheard," he told them quietly. His friends nodded agreement, and the three of them slid out of the booth. Tucker and Sam threw away their trash on the way out of the Nasty Burger.

"I can't believe we have to go back to school in a couple of days," Tucker groaned as they walked to Sam's car. "The break was way too short!"

"You didn't get any of your homework done yet, did you?" Sam stared pointedly at him while unlocking the car door.

"It's break!" Tucker huffed, throwing his arms up in the air. "Besides I still have some time to get it all done."

"Just don't wait until the last night to do it. You'll come to school the next day after pulling an all nighter to get it done." Danny chuckled, climbing into the backseat of the car.

"I believe we were talking about why you were late," Tucker said, a little loudly, as Sam turned the key in the ignition.

Danny rolled his eyes at the obvious change of topics. He leaned forward, resting his arms on the edges of the front seats. "My ghost sense went off, so-"

"Naturally, you just had to go be the hero," Tucker said, but he grinned and his voice held no hostility or resentment.

Danny smiled lightly at the teasing. "Yeah. Well, I should have taken the advice and checked things out invisibly first, but I jumped in head first without thinking." He caught Tucker's frown, and Sam glanced at him through the rear view mirror. "It was a trap. The two guys were just pretending to lure me out." Though he guessed that one guy, Skulker, must have threatened the shape shifting man with intent to make his ghost sense go off. "I figured out a new ability though."

"Hey, that's great! What is it?" Excitement shone in Tucker's eyes.

"That might be easier to show." Danny winced slightly. "I'll show you when we stop somewhere." He was still recovering, but he could probably manage something small. "The problem is, right now, it just drains me completely."

"Wait. What do you mean?" Sam snapped her head around for a quick, concerned glance before returning her gaze back to the street so they wouldn't crash. "What happened?"

"Well," Danny scratched at his cheek, looking away from his friends, "I managed to get away, which is the good news."

"What's the bad news?" Tucker asked with skepticism tingeing his voice.

"Uh, Valerie was the one who rescued me and now knows I'm Phantom." Danny cringed, backing away from the front seats before either of his friends could smack him for being stupid.

"How could you let her find out?" Sam shouted.

"How did Valerie rescue you?" Tucker's eye widened with his surprise.

Danny sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "Well, with that new power, I used up too much energy, so I changed back to human. And after our conversation, she put the pieces together. The good news is she doesn't want to kick my butt because of what happened to her dad." He leaned forward again, grinning at Tucker. "And this part stays between us. She's gotten her hands on some pretty awesome looking tech. She swooped in on a hover board and yanked me out of there before those two guys could kick my butt." He left off the "or worse," fighting off a shudder of what they might have wanted to do to him. "I guess she had the same thought I had after Jazz. She wants to find evidence about what happened at the precinct so we can nail Walker for the devious jerk he is."

"I'm glad she doesn't want to kill you," Sam frowned, "but I don't think it's wise to trust her with your secret identity."

"Not much I can do about it now. She already knows." Danny shrugged. For some reason, he believed in Valerie. She wouldn't go spreading around who Phantom really was. Her friends would ask her all about how she learned his identity, and something told him Valerie wasn't as willing to share her secret activities with the A List as Danny was with his friends.

"That doesn't mean I have to like it." Sam parked the car when they arrived at the warehouse they used as their secret base. The usual employee greeted them with a hearty smile as they entered and headed down to the basement to continue their conversation.

"All right. Let's see this new power!" Tucker plopped down, leaning back against a shelf of boxes with a big smile on his face.

Danny shifted to ghost form, relieved when it worked, though already he felt his energy waning. He wouldn't be able to keep it up for too long. "Now this is totally new, so don't be too disappointed if it doesn't work." His friends rolled their eyes and gave him a "get on with it" look. His mouth twitched, a small smile forming. Then he focused his concentration on his hand, calling up the freezing burning sensation that seemed to come along with the power. For a long time, nothing happened, and as the seconds ticked away and sweat beaded on his brow, his frustration grew. He gritted his teeth, and his green eyes glowed more intensely.

Anger was a good fuel, and in the next moment, he had a decent sized ball of energy in the palm of his hand. A proud smile pulled at his mouth. It was a strange feeling, holding the energy in his hand. He tossed it in the air and caught it with his other hand then juggled it back and forth.

"I wonder if I can do other things with this," he said, holding the energy ball between his hands. It vanished in a wisp as he transformed back to human. He dropped to the ground, breathing heavy as he leaned back on his arms. "Maybe I'll try that out later." His energy was spent again.

"That's awesome!" Tucker sat forward. "You have an offensive power now. I bet that would really hurt if you threw it at someone. Hm." The excitement fade as he pushed his mouth to one side and his eyebrows knitted together. "I guess if ghosts are made up of ectoplasm, then that ball thing would be made of ecto energy." He glanced at Sam then back to Danny. "Does that mean you're using up, like, your life energy to produce that?"

Danny frowned, his enthusiasm about developing a new power dropping slightly. "Thanks for that idea," he muttered dryly. "I feel drained after using it. But I did also just use a huge amount of energy fighting off those two guys. If I was all rested up, that little display just now wouldn't have worn me out. I just need to practice with it so that I can use it longer, or you know, use an appropriate amount for the situation rather expending everything I have at one time. It's like with the other abilities." He shrugged. "I just gotta work at it."

"It seems like it'll come in handy against other ghosts." Sam nodded, but her mouth pursed slightly in that way when she had something on her mind. "But you discovered all of this _after_ you texted us to meet up." Her violet eyes narrowed at him. "So why exactly did you text us in the first place?"

"Oh." Danny swallowed, sweat trickling down the back of his neck. After what just happened, he nearly forgot the whole reason he wanted to meet up with his friends. He coughed into his hand, delaying the inevitable a little longer. "So, uh, last night, I did the usual patrolling, beat up some criminals. You know, the usual." He shrugged then shrank when he caught the suspicious glares on his friends' faces. "And, um, there was - You see, after I tied up the last one, there, um-"

"Danny, if you don't tell us, I'm going to throw my boot at you," Sam threatened, and with the thick, heavy soles, being hit with one of those boots would hurt.

Danny laughed nervously, and it sounded strained to his own ear. "I may have went back to a safe house of this mercenary I know and marathoned some old television show before falling asleep on the couch with him." The words rushed out of him, and he flinched, clamping his eyes shut as he waited his friends' reactions.

"What?" Tucker shouted, gawking at him with his mouth hanging practically to the floor.

"Did you say mercenary?" Sam eyed him, her expression difficult to fully read. "How exactly do you know a mercenary?"

Danny winced. "Um." He bit his lower lip then sighed, letting his shoulders slump. "I met him a while back, but so much was happening that I kind of forgot about mentioning him. He's the one that saved me when that madman tried to kill me in that shop before. And I learned about flying when we investigated a building together. The floor, um, kind of blew up and we jumped out a window to avoid being blown up too, and I managed to stop us from going splat on the street."

"Are you sure you were keeping this from us just because everything's been hectic recently?" The suspicion remained on Sam's face.

"What other reason would there be?" Danny blinked in confusion.

"Oh, I don't know." Tucker shrugged but seemed to be sharing the same thought as Sam. "Maybe you actually like this guy and were too scared to tell us anything about him because we might not like him."

"What?" Danny laughed forcibly. "Where did you get that idea?"

"You've been blushing like crazy ever since you started talking about him," Sam pointed out with a roll of her eyes. "Seriously, Danny, you could have just told us sooner. You like a guy. So what? It's been a while since you've mentioned having a crush on anyone."

"Actually, we were starting to worry about that," Tucker admitted. "Though after all this," he waved a hand around absently, "started, we thought maybe romance had taken a permanent backseat."

Danny didn't know what to do with that. He shook his head and refocused back on the problem. "But he's a mercenary! He's killed people!" He hung his head and rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms. "Although he did say he wouldn't kill where I'm involved, which probably means he won't take any jobs that involve killing here in Amity Park, which is definitely a good thing. But when he leaves," he lifted his head to stare at his friends, "he'll kill people. For money!"

"That does seem like a pretty big problem," Tucker admitted, sharing a glance with Sam.

"I mean, he didn't have the best life growing up. And," Danny frowned, staring down at his hands as he picked at his thumbnail, "if things had been different, if I hadn't had people I cared about, who I didn't want to disappoint, I could have been like him. I," he hunched his shoulders forward, "really wanted to kill Spike when I confronted him about Jazz. It would have been easy. But I stopped myself. Because killing him would be wrong and wouldn't have solved anything. It wouldn't bring Jazz back. And I would have been no better than the one who killed her."

He drew up his knees and hugged them to his chest when he thought back to Dan telling him about what happened to his parents. Dan was only a kid, and he had killed that man in self defense. If he was put in that situation, Danny probably would have done the same. But Dan no longer had that excuse to explain why he killed people. He did it now for money, not to protect his own life.

"His past doesn't excuse how he chooses to make his money though."

"Danny, maybe you should try talking to him about this," Sam suggested.

"Yeah," Tucker agreed. "You obviously have feelings for him. All this round about thinking is just going to drive you crazy."

Danny groaned, but he knew his friends were right. He couldn't continue to sit around mulling over the same argument in his head. Talking to Dan would at least clear some of the thoughts from his head. "Okay." He sighed. "Next time I see him, I'll try to talk about it with him. When, you know, we aren't fighting criminals and stuff."

"If that's everything," Sam slapped her hands on her thighs then stood, "I believe someone still has homework to get done."

Tucker groaned. "Why? There's still a few days left!"

Sam folded her arms and glared at him. "If I leave you to do it yourself, you'll just play video games right up until the last day."

Danny grinned at his friends. "You're so cute together." He chuckled as both of them whacked him. "Okay. Okay!" He swatted at their hands, trying to fend off their attacks. "Think you can drop me off on the way to your study date?" Sam hit him hard on the shoulder, but Danny continued to laugh as he stood.

"Be happy I don't drop you off in the lake or something," Sam said, leading the way back out of the warehouse.

Tucker smacked him on the back of the head. "Thanks. Now she's in a bad mood. Do you realize how much she's going to torture _me_ now?"

Danny tried to school his expression and appear apologetic. "Sorry. The moment was too good to pass up." Tucker gave him one last nudge before they climbed into Sam's car to drive off to Danny's house.


	62. Chapter 62

Danny chuckled as he watched Cujo run around his room, attempting to catch the small balls of energy he tossed from his bed. After Sam dropped him off at home, Danny decided to work on practicing his new ability. He was still tired from the fight earlier, but he could manage expending a tiny amount of energy while recovering. He kept the balls of energy about the size of a tennis ball, and they faded away before Cujo was able to snatch them out of the air.

But he had to be able to do something else with this energy. Or at least, he believed that. Danny sat up straight, crossing his legs under him as he held his hands out before him. Cujo whined in disappointment when another energy ball wasn't tossed for him to chase. Danny ignored it as he concentrated. The energy formed, a tiny ball floating between his hands. With his mouth pursed and his brow creased, he considered what he could do with the energy. Biting his tongue, he focused on the idea that popped into his head. The ball wiggled and bulged then, with a pop, changed from a solid ball into a bubble.

Danny smiled proudly, even if it was a small achievement. "Hm. What else?" He tilted his head, thinking as he held the bubble in one hand. If he could throw balls of energy for offense, maybe he could utilize the energy for defense too. A bubble, on a far larger scale, could provide good protection, but it would expend more energy than necessary if he didn't need all around protection. He owed a lot of thanks to Valerie for saving him. But she wouldn't always be there, so he had to think smartly about using his powers.

He needed to be smarter about jumping into fights too. How many times had he endangered his life by responding to his ghost sense without thinking? Dan even told him he should be smarter and not leap in blindly. But he had done it again. Walked right in a trap all because he had this stupid hero complex where he had to rush in to save someone in trouble. The bubble faded away as his shoulders drooped. He was disappointed in himself when he _knew_ he needed to be more aware of the situation.

Hearing a knock on his door, Danny jumped. "Yeah?"

"Is everything okay in there?" his mother questioned, concern lacing her voice.

"Uh, yeah." Danny sat tensely on his bed. "Just playing around with Cujo. Why?"

"Oh." His mother sighed in disappointment. "Well, our ghost detection was going off and showing activity coming from up here. But I suppose it malfunctioned. I'll have to run some tests on it to get it working again."

"Oh." Danny winced, regret punching him in the gut. "Yeah, sorry it's not working right." He would have to be careful where and when he practiced his powers if his parents had inventions set up to detect any ghostly activity all the time.

"Don't worry about it. This kind of thing happens all the time." The comment didn't make him feel any better about keeping his ghost half secret from his parents.

Danny frowned as he listened to his mother's footsteps walking away from his room. With a sigh, he flopped back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He hated lying to his parents about ghosts. Everything would be simpler if he could just tell his parents the truth. But how would they react? He kept it secret for a while now, and he doubted his parents would be happy to know that. But more importantly, would they be able to accept that side of him? Maybe they wouldn't strap him down to a table and dissect him, but that didn't mean they wouldn't look at him differently once they knew about him.

His phone vibrated against his hip. When he pulled it from his pocket, Danny's brow creased with confusion upon seeing the message came from Valerie. Then he sat up quickly, his eyes widening when he read her text.

[ _Phantom. Masters. NOW!_ ]

Danny scrambled off his bed, falling on his face when his feet got tangled together. Once he changed into his suit, he rushed out of his room, phasing through the wall. If Valerie actually contacted him, then whatever it was about had to be something serious, and judging by the urgency, something dangerous. He flew as fast as he could toward the Masters' house, worrying for his friend. What terrible things had Mr. Masters done now? Did he create another vengeful ghost like Mr. Technus? Danny's fists clenched tightly, ready to punch the man if he put Elle's life in danger again.

When he arrived, the first thing he noticed was the front room's window being smashed. His ghost sense chilled him, like being dunked in an ice bath until his bones ached. He swooped down, phasing into the house as he followed his ghost sense to the source of the danger.

"Stop!" someone shouted from below, and Danny dove through the floor to the basement level of the house.

"Look out!"

Danny had little time to assess the situation. He dropped down beside Valerie, who wore the same suit from when she saved him earlier. Then with little thought, he threw up his hands, calling on his energy and praying it would do as he wished. A shield popped up before them, just large enough to cover both him and Valerie. The energy ball seconds from hitting Valerie deflected off the shield and ricocheted toward the ceiling where it left a blackened mark.

"What is going on here?" Danny demanded as he allowed the shield to fall before it drained too much of his energy.

"Watch it!" Valerie grabbed Danny's arm and yanked him toward her. They both tumbled to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

"Don't hurt her!"

Danny twisted around, surprised to see Kwan standing there with a mixture of panic and fear in his eyes. "What is Kwan doing here?" he asked Valerie, keeping his voice low. The whole situation had his mind spinning with all the unknown factors.

"Elle, please! Stop this!"

Danny turned intangible so he and Valerie could easily detangle themselves and scramble to their feet. He glanced to Mr. Masters, finding the man with his back to a wall and hands held up before him. A white haired woman stalked toward him with fury in her green eyes. Danny swallowed because her appearance resembled his ghost form a little too closely. The major differences was in the color of their skin, and she lacked the same Lichtenberg scarring he received from his accident. What was going on here? Danny desperately wanted answers.

"Shut up!" screamed the ghost woman, launching herself at Mr. Masters as her hands glowed green.

Danny hesitated. Why should he do any favors for Mr. Masters? If he got himself into another mess, maybe he should pay the consequences. But he could hear Jazz's voice in his head, disappointed with him for not helping when he had the power to do so. He moved, but before he could do anything, a large body blocked his view of the ghost. She shrieked in fury, blasts of energy shooting at the floor and wall. Mr. Masters ducked before one blast could strike him.

"Elle, stop!"

Danny froze, sucking in a shocked gasp when he recognized his father's voice. What was his father doing here? His mouth hung open, but he couldn't form any words, his mind going blank. Wait! Something wiggled into his head. Twice now, they had said Elle's name. But - Danny frowned as he glanced around, not seeing Elle anywhere in the wrecked laboratory.

"No! He deserves the pain!"

Danny's gaze snapped back to this father as his eyes grew impossibly wide. That was Elle's voice coming from the ghost! "That's Elle?" he whispered to Valerie, pointing to where his father stood holding Elle to keep her from attacking her father.

Valerie shrugged, seeming as surprised as he felt though he couldn't see her face. Danny clenched his fists at his sides. That was it. That was the last straw! He charged forward and seized the lapels of Mr. Masters' suit. Then he slammed the man into the wall.

"You did this!" Danny shouted in Mr. Masters' face. "You did something like this to your own daughter!" He hadn't felt angry like this since he confronted Spike when he still thought the man was his sister's killer. His hands glowed green, energy gathering accompanied by that burning freezing sensation. Behind him, Elle screamed in rage, wanting to break free to hurt her father.

"Elle, you're going to kill yourself if you don't stop!" Danny's father shouted, raising his voice to be heard. A hush fell over the laboratory, and everyone stilled, staring at the large man and the young woman in his arms. Minutes ticked by, no one understanding the comment until -

Elle screamed in terror. "What is this?" She wiggled in the man's arms. "Why am I melting?" It wasn't an exaggeration either. Her body dripped like a lit candle, the beads sliding down her arms and legs then hitting the floor with wet plops. A puddle of green sat under where she was held, and more drops splattered from her wild movements.

"Elle, stop! You're making it worse!" Kwan shouted.

"He's right," Danny's father agreed. "You need to calm down. We'll figure out what's happening and fix it. But you need to remain calm so your condition doesn't worsen."

Elle stopped flailing around, and she sniffled as tears ran down her face. She was terrified for her life, and Danny hated that she was experiencing anything like this. Danny rammed his elbow into Mr. Masters' abdomen, only mildly satisfied with his grunt of pain.

"I'll deal with you later," Danny warned Mr. Masters. "Right now, the important thing is saving Elle." He turned and looked at the others, still confused about Kwan's presence. "How did this even happen? How do we stop the whole," he gestured to Elle, "melting thing?"

"Let's deal with the how it happened after the immediate problem is dealt with." Mr. Masters pushed past Danny as he straightened the lapels of his suit. "We'll need to run some tests on Elle to determine how to stabilize her condition."

"Like you even care," Elle spat, her gaze darkening as she glared at her father. "You never loved me after all."

The comment caught Mr. Masters by surprised, and he jerked back a step like she just slapped him. "How could you believe something like that?" He sounded truly horrified by the idea of his daughter thinking he didn't love her, but Danny didn't buy his act.

"Don't try to deny it!" Elle shouted as a flicker of green glowed at her hands.

"We heard you talking," Kwan explained, looking rather shaken up about everything. "You said you never loved her." His mouth pressed into a hard line, and Danny thought this was the first time he had ever seen Kwan truly angry.

Mr. Masters gasped. "That wasn't about Elle! I would never say something like that about her!"

"Then who were you talking about?" Elle demanded.

"This, uh, isn't helping the situation," Danny's father mumbled.

"I don't know." Valerie folded her arms. "I think she has a right to know the truth."

Mr. Masters glanced around, his gaze darting from his daughter to Danny's father then away and back again.

"We might as well explain," Danny's father said, shrugging his broad shoulders. "What harm could it even do?"

Mr. Masters' mouth pursed, but after his daughter glared him down, he sighed. "Ever since that dinner, I've been keeping in touch with Daniel's parents. Jack came over to confront me about why I broke off our friendship all those years ago. He accused me of being in love with Maddie. But as I told him, that was absurd." He sniffed, lifting his chin as he turned his head away. "I was never in love with Maddie."

"If that's true," Danny narrowed his eyes at the man, and he didn't quite believe Mr. Masters was being honest, "then what's with the horrible way you've treated your daughter?"

"I beg your pardon?" Mr. Masters glared at him. "You don't get any say in the way I raise my daughter."

"Maybe if you," Danny jabbed the man in the chest with his finger, "actually showed her you loved her, she wouldn't have misunderstood you. Then none of this," he spread his arms out wide to indicate the laboratory, "would have ever happened. You make her feel like she isn't good enough all the while pressuring her to be what _you_ want her to be. She's smart! And she has her own dreams!"

"Enough!" Danny's father finally shouted. "You two can yell at each other all you want _later_. We still need to help Elle, and all this bickering isn't doing anything. Let's stabilize her condition. Then we can sit down and maybe get the whole story told." He sent a meaningful glare at Mr. Masters, who frowned and broke eye contact.

"Yes, all you children should vacate the laboratory at once." Mr. Masters waved his hand dismissively at them.

"It might be best for you to leave as well," Danny's father suggested with a wince. "Your presence isn't exactly helping to keep Elle calm."

Mr. Masters' face twitched, and he looked ready to argue against the suggestion. His fist clenched at his side. "Fine," he bit out then snapped a finger at Danny's father. "But if you do anything to worsen her condition, I will never forgive you."

"I will do everything in my power to save her," Danny's father said, sounding more serious than Danny could ever recall. His response seemed to satisfy Mr. Masters, who swept out of the laboratory. "You three should go too." He nodded toward the door. "Perhaps you can clear up everything with him while I work."

"Right." Danny clapped his hands. "Best for us to get out of the way and let this man do his thing." He ushered Valerie and Kwan out of the laboratory. Before they left, he glanced back over his shoulder to see his father laying Elle down on a table, which had somehow remained intact.

"You're going to be all right," his father whispered to her. "I promise."


	63. Chapter 63

Danny jogged up the stairs, but the fright on Elle's face stayed with him, burned into his memory. Elle was terrified, and Danny couldn't even imagine what it was like to have his body literally melting. Shaking those thoughts from his head, he joined the others in the kitchen where Mr. Masters was brewing coffee, the heavy aroma filling the room. Where Sasha was, Danny didn't know. Perhaps Mr. Masters had given the cook and Carmina time off, but that was only a guess.

Danny stormed over to the man, his anger rising with each step. When he reached him, Danny punched Mr. Masters, clubbing him on the ear. "What did you do to her?" he shouted as Mr. Masters stumbled back a step into the counter behind him. Valerie and Kwan immediately jumped in, grabbing his arms to hold him back, even though he could easily phase through their grip.

Mr. Masters held a hand over his ear as he glared at Danny. "If you think I did anything to harm her, then you aren't as smart as I thought you were."

"Then _how_ ," Danny growled, his teeth grinding painfully, "did _that_ happen to her?"

"That is a question I would also like the answer to." Mr. Masters held Danny's gaze, despite the mask, in a glaring contest, which neither was willing to break first.

After an awkward silence reigned over the room, Kwan rubbed at the back of his neck. "After she misunderstood what her dad said," he shot a furious glare at Mr. Masters like he wanted to yell at the man for that comment, "she raced back to the lab and started trashing everything. She had some cuts from the broken glass, and-" His eyes darted toward Danny, but it was brief, so quick Danny blinked in surprised, unable to grasp the meaning behind it. "She smashed open the containment unit, and electricity was just flying out everywhere. By the way, where did Mr. Technus come from?" He frowned as curiosity lurked behind the anger in his gaze.

"Mr. Tech - _What_?" Danny snapped his gaze back to Mr. Masters. When they were in the laboratory, he was too concerned with Elle to even realize he overlooked someone else there. "He's been _here_ this whole time?"

"You can't possibly tell me he wasn't a danger," Mr. Masters said with a exasperated sigh like talking to him was exhausting. "And not just to myself. He threatened Elle. Or have you forgotten that?" His dark blue eyes narrowed at Danny, but there was a flicker of something in those eyes that made Danny gulp. "You saw the monster he created in his obsession. I had to do something to contain him before he caused damage to the whole town. Or worse, killed someone. I wanted to be able to help him. But what could I do when revenge was the only thing on his mind?"

Danny cringed back. "That's a fair point. But because of your idiocy from the beginning, Elle's life was put in danger again." He stepped up to Mr. Masters while Valerie and Kwan tensed in preparation to pull him back if he attacked the man. "All of this could have been avoided if you just treated Elle like an actual person instead of trying to force her into this mold you have in mind for what she _should_ be."

"I may not have known her very well," Valerie said, "but it sounded like she believed you didn't like her at all, let alone love her. She was trying to take interest in something _you_ were obsessing over just to have some kind of connection with you."

"None of you understand!" Mr. Masters slammed down his mug, splashing the hot coffee onto the counter.

"Maybe you'd like to explain it to us then," Danny suggested, leaning back as he folded his arms.

"Maybe you could start with your face doing that weird zombie thing before," Kwan added, and the other three turned to him. "What?" Kwan hunched up his shoulders, shying away from the stares. "When he rushed into the lab, his face was all blue and looked like one side had been eaten away." Valerie and Danny both twisted back around to stare at Mr. Masters, almost expecting his face to morph right before their eyes.

Mr. Masters grimaced. "That is a long story, and none of your business."

"I think it might be a little bit our business," Valerie argued with her hands on her hips. "Or at the very least, you should be explaining yourself to Elle."

Mr. Masters wiped at his forehead and sighed. "Back in college, I used to be roommates with Jack. Together with Maddie, we researched ghosts and invented things we thought would be useful for if we ever found a ghost. We had a theory that ghosts existed in another dimension, so we developed the proto-portal in hopes of punching through to that dimension." He found the roll of paper towels and tore off a sheet with which to mop up the spilled coffee. "It seemed like it would all work. We had run the numbers a thousand times. I couldn't even begin to tell you where things went wrong."

"Something happened with the invention?" Kwan guessed, his gaze curious but his mouth frowning with concern.

Mr. Masters remained silent for a few minutes before he nodded. "I was in the lab to run some checks on it before our first test to turn on the proto-portal. But-" He shook his head then turned away as he slammed a fist down on the counter. "It turned on while I was standing in front of it. I got blasted right in the face and was left with this." Mr. Masters twisted sharply around to them, his unnaturally blue face looking, as Kwan said, like a zombie. Danny cringed at the sight of it, perhaps a little sickened by the way the man's cheek was eaten away and showed off muscle and bone. His red eyes burned with anger, and maybe some self disgust. His silver hair had turned black, mimicking the way Danny's, and even Elle's, hair inverted color in ghost form. "And it was because of this that I left my friends."

"Well," Danny swallowed, "I think your friends wouldn't have abandoned you."

" _That_ wasn't the problem!" Mr. Masters shouted, and the three teenagers jumped hearing his anger. He sucked in a deep breath then released it slowly. His posture relaxed, and his appearance changed back to normal. "Our work researching ghosts hadn't gone unnoticed. A certain organization was interested in what we were up to. I left them and avoided them to protect them. If they knew about my condition - If _anyone_ knew, I would have been locked up and researched."

"What organization?" Valerie asked, though her head turned toward Danny.

"Haven't you already noticed?" Mr. Masters snorted, fury and frustration flashing across his face. "The Guys in White! They've finally seized their chance to invade Amity Park now that Mr. Gray is out of the picture."

"Wait!" Danny waved a hand to stop anyone else from speaking. "You mean _that's_ why you've been keeping Mr. Gray in office?"

"He has?" Valerie questioned, sounding surprised.

"I do believe he's the best man for the job too." Mr. Masters sneered, insulted by the implication that he had villainous ulterior motives. "But his desire to keep the Guys in White out of Amity Park definitely made my choice of whom to back for Police Chief an easy decision."

"So it wasn't because you had him in your pocket and were pulling the strings from behind the scenes?" Danny had wanted to confront Mr. Masters about the matter since Dan mentioned it last night.

"My only concerns with backing Mr. Gray was that I believed him most capable of doing the job right and that he would keep the town free of the Guys in White. I never used him for anything else."

"With Walker being the only other real candidate," Valerie said, "it's no surprise he would choose my - Mr. Gray. The reason is painfully obvious now that the Guys in White are walking the streets like they own the town."

Danny agreed with Valerie. The Guys in White's presence put everyone at risk. The organization seemed to lack concern for innocent bystanders when it came to their pursuit in capturing ghosts, namely Phantom. Danny thought he was the only human at risk, but now knowing about Mr. Masters and after what happened to Elle, he wasn't alone. He chewed on his lower lip, thoughts racing through his head. He hoped Ember, Johnny, and Kitty were long gone so they might be safer than if they stayed in Amity Park. But what about people who were affected by ghosts? Tucker had briefly been possessed by a ghost. Could the Guys in White detect something like that? Would they take Tucker in for interrogation?

"Okay," Valerie said slowly, drawing Danny out of his thoughts. "So you've been trying to hide from these Guys in White guys. But you haven't really explained why you're so cold to your own daughter."

"I have to keep control of my emotions. When I let my emotions get the better of me, well," Mr. Masters' mouth pinched thin, "you saw what I truly look like. I can't risk people seeing that, so I have to hold everything in. It took me years to gain the control needed to keep up the facade of a normal appearance for every waking moment."

"I suppose that explains why you reacted so calmly even with your life being threatened." Danny still didn't like the answer, though he supposed he would be the same if getting angry revealed his ghost half to everyone. "But that doesn't mean you couldn't have done _something_ to let Elle know you do in fact love her. _Listen_ to her. Take an interest her dreams. Stop making her feel like she isn't smart!"

Mr. Masters actually flinched back as Danny's voice rose in volume. "I didn't marry Elle's mother because I was in love with her. She was a decent enough woman, and we liked each other as friends. She needed a husband to please her parents, and I needed her money to research some way to heal my 'condition.' Elle was-" His mouth twitched, but he was quick to school his expression. "Truth is, her parents demanded a child of our marriage. They wanted an heir to their fortune. Amelia was a brilliant woman. She ensured everything we made together would be ours, would go to Elle, and her parents wouldn't get a say in or a cent of it. She wanted Elle to be free of her parents because Amelia had to struggle for years to become her own person. I push Elle, not because I don't love her, but because I want to know she'll be okay in this world if anything should happen to me. She's already lost her mother."

"Sounds to me like you might be doing what Amelia's parents did to her with Elle," Valerie said. "You know, controlling her every life decision. I think Elle can handle herself if you just give her the chance to prove herself. Maybe she won't launch a multibillion dollar business. But she deserves the chance to find her own way in life." It was a hard dose of reality slapping him in the face, and all three teenagers could read it in the man's expression. Mr. Masters had become a controlling parent, exactly what Elle's mother had wanted to avoid for her daughter.

"But you have that," Kwan waved a hand at the side of his face, "zombie face thing. What if that had been passed on to Elle?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Mr. Masters snapped with a withering glare, and Kwan flinched away from him.

" _Don't_ yell at him!" Valerie shouted with her fists clenched tightly. "It's a reasonable question."

Mr. Masters scowled at her, blue tingeing his skin and red bleeding into his eyes. He huffed out a breath as the frustration eased away. "I checked when she was born. I've checked yearly since then. It's always been a great relief to know Elle didn't inherit any of that ecto contamination from me. The last thing I ever wanted for my daughter was to put her life at risk of being found out by the Guys in White. I wanted her to be safe and happy."

"I think you failed on both parts."

The four of them turned when they heard the biting comment. Elle stood in the doorway to the kitchen, looking waned, and if Danny's father didn't stand behind her to help steady her, she might have dropped to the floor right there and then. But she was back to normal in appearance, and Danny breathed easier seeing that.

"Elle!" Mr. Masters cried as he rushed toward her but halted when his daughter shot him a dark glare. "Elle," he repeated pleadingly, his voice sounding broken. Danny almost hated hearing that depressing tone in the man's voice. _Almost_. But Danny was still angry about what happened to Elle and all the lies and secrets Mr. Masters kept.

"Danny's dad explained things to me," Elle said tight lipped. "I might understand that you didn't mean me when you said you didn't love her, but I'm still reserving the right to be angry with you. I'm not going to just forgive you. You've made me feel horrible about myself because I couldn't live up to the standards you set for me."

"I know." Mr. Masters hung his head. "I was being exactly like your mother's parents, which is exactly what she wanted to avoid for you. I'm sorry."

Elle narrowed her eyes. "I suppose that's a start."

"So what happened down there?" Kwan questioned. "And what about Mr. Technus?"

"I managed to stabilize Elle's condition," Danny's father explained. "Actually, I was able to utilize an idea I had that didn't quite work the way I had planned. You see, it was-"

"Jack," Mr. Masters cut off with a slight growl in his voice.

"Right. Blathering. Sorry." Danny's father winced, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Boring technical stuff. The only thing that matters is I managed to counter the unstable elements that were causing her to dissolve. But," he frowned, concern edging into his blue eyes, "I couldn't undo the damage."

"So does that mean she-" Danny didn't know if he wanted to have Elle be like him. While it might be nice to share being half ghost with someone, he thought life would be far easier for her if Elle was normal. Especially with the Guys in White invading Amity Park.

"I don't know what exactly to call it, but the ectoplasm has completely bonded with her DNA," his father explained with a somewhat helpless look. "But she's stable!" he added quickly, panic flashing in his eyes like he worried Mr. Masters would shout at him for his failure. "Maybe she's not one hundred percent normal anymore, but that doesn't really change anything. She's still Elle! She's still your daughter. And now there's no worry of her dissolving into a puddle of ectoplasm."

Mr. Masters' mouth pursed and his eyes narrowed dangerously. He barely managed to keep control of his shift. "I wouldn't stop loving my daughter over something like this." His nose wrinkled like the very implication disgusted him. Then he snapped a finger at Danny's father. "But don't think for one second you can experiment on her because she's half ghost now."

"I wouldn't!" Danny's father shouted, insulted by the suggestion. "We said we would never experiment on a ghost without getting its permission to study it."

"This is all giving me a headache," Elle said with a groan as she rubbed at her forehead.

"Maybe we should call it a day," Valerie suggested. "It's been a tough day, and it's probably good for Elle to get some rest."

Kwan gingerly lifted his hand, drawing everyone's eyes to him. "Um," he gulped, "I agree with Elle needing some rest, but I still want to know something." His eyebrows lifted curiously. "What happened with Mr. Technus?"

"After what happened, he seems pretty drained of power," Danny's father explained, rubbing his chin. "He wasn't fully conscious but mumbling a lot of 'I'll get him!' So we should probably do something about him before he regains his energy and tries to attack someone."

"He's not really a bad guy," Kwan argued, frowning with a concerned wrinkle in his brow. It made Danny think of Tucker.

"He might not be, but I don't think it's wise to leave him be when he could potentially do some major harm to people." Danny's father glanced toward Mr. Masters. "If possible, I'd like to stay and try to get him stabilized. And, uh, potentially limit his powers. Just so, you know, he can't go around harming people since he seems to have an obsession with getting his revenge."

Danny didn't exactly like leaving Mr. Technus in the hands of Mr. Masters. But after the adventure with the giant robot, he also couldn't allow Mr. Technus to roam free. In his attempts to get his revenge on Mr. Masters, Mr. Technus could have done far more harm, both in property damage and in injuring innocent bystanders. With his father there, Danny could at least relax in the knowledge that his father would do his best to help Mr. Technus.

"Well, it seems our work here is done then," Danny said, clapping a hand on Valerie's shoulder. "We should let the adults do their thing and let Elle rest."

Valerie nodded. "Right. Uh," she turned her head toward Kwan, "need a lift home?"

Kwan hesitated, glancing from Elle to Mr. Masters. Worry filled his eyes, but he seemed to reach the conclusion that there wasn't anything left for him to do. "Yeah." He nodded. "If you need anything, just give me a call," he told Elle, who bobbed her head with a smile. Then he followed Danny and Valerie toward the front door.

Once they were outside, Valerie leaned toward Danny. "You know," she whispered quietly, "with what he said about Elle, I think he might be okay if you ever decided to tell him about you."

Danny rubbed absently at his arm. "I thought about it. I mean, I've _been_ thinking about it. It's just a really big secret, you know?"

Valerie nodded like she did understand. "Well, I have evidence to hunt down." She stepped back to stand beside Kwan. "Guess I'll catch you around some time, Phantom."

"Uh, yeah. You know how to get in touch if you need help."

"I totally missed something, didn't I?" Kwan sounded rather disappointed about being out of the loop.

"We just talked." Valerie patted her friend on the shoulder.

"Hopefully with both of us working on it, we'll find the evidence needed to nail Officer Walker." Danny recalled his conversation from last night. Dan might be searching for evidence too, but Danny worried about _how_ the mercenary would get the evidence. After a brief farewell, they parted ways. Danny shifted to invisible as he flew back home.


	64. Chapter 64

Danny rubbed at his face as he reached his house. One night of relaxation felt too little to help when more problems arose. At least, he learned a little about the Guys in White. He cursed not knowing about them sooner. If he knew that was Officer Walker's plan, to bring the Guys in White to Amity Park, maybe he could have reacted better at the police precinct when Officer Walker fired at him and Mr. Gray. Maybe it wouldn't change what happened, but Danny hated that he couldn't do anything to help Mr. Gray. He had stood by like an idiot while it happened. He _should_ have done something, but he was too much in the dark to realize the situation before it was too late. If Valerie wanted to punch him in the face for that, he would let her do it.

Danny still worried about Valerie going out and hunting for evidence to prove what happened to her father. Officer Walker was bad enough by himself, but if the rest of the Guys in White were anything like Officer Walker, the situation could escalate quickly. If Officer Walker found about Valerie, he might do something to remove her before she could provide evidence to get him kicked from temporary Police Chief. Even if Valerie could fight and defend herself, Danny didn't want to see her get hurt or worse.

Now he had Elle to worry about too. Danny landed in his bedroom with a tired sigh. People were already being turned into full ghosts, not even knowing what had happened to them. Danny still didn't know why the organization was doing that to people. But he never wanted to have someone else to be what he was. He still had nightmares about the accident that gave him his powers, that made him half ghost.

Maybe Mr. Masters thought he was doing things for the best, by isolating himself from his friends and closing off his emotions to maintain control. Danny could have done the same. Instead of telling his friends about what happened, he could have stayed silent and pulled away from them. But he couldn't imagine hiding everything from his friends. He needed his friends, and he thought Mr. Masters' life might be a little better if he had Danny's parents to support him. But even if he could find some understanding in Mr. Masters' actions, Danny couldn't forgive him for his treatment of Elle. Of course, his forgiveness wasn't what mattered. Maybe after all of this, Elle and her father could grow closer.

"Daniel Isaac Fenton."

Danny froze, every muscle tensing when he heard his mother's stern tone. Slowly, he turned his head and saw his mother leaning against his desk. Her arms were folded, a finger tapping against her bicep, and she wore a cross expression that left Danny wanting to quietly back out of the room and fly off before she could yell at him. Then he remembered he was still invisible. His mother couldn't even see him. How did she know he was there? His gaze dropped to his desk where a device sat by his mother. It beeped frequently, and Danny's stomach dropped as he suspected what the device did.

"I know you're there." His mother placed a hand on the device. "I thought it was malfunctioning earlier when it picked up some activity coming from your room. A ghost in our house? It seemed like such a silly notion. But before I could walk away, it picked up the activity again. We try to respect your privacy, but if there _was_ a ghost in here, I couldn't stand by and let something happen to you. Danny, I saw you. I saw you dressed as Phantom and flying out of here."

His blood ran cold. His mother saw him? She knew he was Phantom? Panic surged through him, and his stomach lurched. This wasn't how he wanted his mother to find out the truth. He hadn't planned out how or when he would tell his parents, but this would never be how he wanted it. Running away wasn't an option. His mother would always be waiting at home to talk to him. His only option now was to get it over with, and the sooner the better, in his opinion. With a heavy sigh, Danny reverted back to human, his invisibility falling away. Hesitantly, he pulled down his mask and met his mother's gaze with no barrier between them.

"Mom," Danny said, his voice quiet, broken with worry, and his hands trembled. "I-"

The sternness in his mother's face melted away. Then her arms were suddenly around him, holding him in a tight embrace. "Oh, Danny!" She pulled away, her hands cupping his face. "How did this happen to you?" Her brow creased as her gaze turned away. "How could we not have seen it?"

"It's okay, Mom. I'm okay." Danny hated seeing the guilt in his mother's eyes, like she saw herself as a terrible mother for not seeing earlier that her son was half ghost.

"You don't know that!" His mother's eyes were wild with worry. "There's a million things that could be wrong with you, and you don't even realize it! What if you were destabilizing right this very second?"

Danny paled at the question, the vivid image of Elle's body melting as she screamed in terror sticking out in his mind. "I just - I've been fine so far."

"And we want to be sure you'll continue to be fine." His mother touched his cheek again, her violet eyes brimming with tears. "We can't lose you too. I don't think your father or I could survive losing another child."

"Mom," Danny whispered with pain in his heart. He folded his arms around his mother as she released a quiet sob. "I didn't know how to tell you and Dad. I was scared, and I panicked. I thought you and Dad would dissect me or something if you found out. Ow! Ow! Ow!" Danny winced when his mother grabbed hold of his ear in a painful pinch.

"Daniel, I can't believe you would ever think something like that about your father and me." His mother glared sternly at him, still holding his ear. "We love you very much, and we would never do anything to harm you." Her expression softened. "Please don't ever withhold information like this from us again. We want to keep you safe and healthy."

Danny smiled softly, lowering his gaze. "I'm sorry for not telling you."

"When your father gets home, I expect you to give us the full story about how this all happened." His mother released his ear, and Danny rubbed at it. "You're also grounded until school starts up again."

"What?" Danny shouted. "But!" He gestured to himself then the window like it explained everything.

"You can survive a few days with no crime fighting." His mother folded her arms. "And the police can do just fine without your help." Her mouth pursed slightly, and Danny wondered if she was thinking about ghosts and the Guys in White causing harm and destruction.

"But-" Danny tried to argue again, but the stony expression on his mother's face told him he had no hope of winning the debate. He sighed in defeat, hanging his head. School, at least, would start again in a few days. His punishment could have been a lot worse.

The rest of winter break was by large dull. When his father returned from the Masters' house, Danny was forced to tell the whole story about how he had gained his ghost powers. He kept his gaze lowered throughout the tale, afraid to look up and see looks of anger on his parents' faces when he told them about how he frequently snuck down into their laboratory. They weren't happy about it, and he was given extra punishment of having to do house cleaning for the last days of his winter break. His parents were horrified when he described the accident, his mother gasping and tearing up as she listened to the story. When he finished, he spent several long minutes in his parents' embrace as they assured him they loved him.

Danny agreed to some testing, to see how stable the ectoplasm's bond with his blood was. His parents couldn't find any signs to show he might start melting at some point in the future. He was stable, and that was a great relief to know. Beyond that, his parents didn't press him about any other type of testing. Perhaps the best part of having his secret revealed was finally being able to tell his parents about all his theories on ghosts. They even let him work in the laboratory with them, when he wasn't stuck cleaning. They began work on a device that would enable his parents to see on the same spectrum on which ghosts naturally resided.

 

"What happened to you?" Sam asked when Danny walked up to their lockers, yawning widely, on their first day back to school after winter break.

Danny groaned as he opened his locker. "My parents know."

"What?" both his friends demanded, and Danny quickly hushed them, tossing around a worried glance. The good thing about not being super popular was most people tended to ignore them.

"My mom caught me transforming when I was leaving," Danny explained as he shoved a book into his bag. "They aren't exactly happy about things, especially my, uh, late night activities. They don't like me putting myself at risk. They also took my research and are going to see if they can find out any new leads about who killed Jazz and this weird organization that seems to have some involvement."

"Well, could be worse," Tucker said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"Yeah, your parents could want to team up with you as Phantom," Sam pointed out, and Danny cringed. Crime fighting with his parents might be embarrassing, but more than that, he didn't want them drawing the attention of the Guys in White. His parents seemed to realize the threat there, though, and hadn't suggested joining him when he patrolled at night.

"That's not all." Danny raked a hand through his hair.

"You mean more people found out other than your parents and Valerie?" Sam folded her arms with her mouth pursed thin.

Danny frowned, knowing it was Valerie finding out that had Sam the most upset. "Okay. First off, Mr. Technus is, well, stable."

"What?" Tucker gasped, his eyes growing wide.

"I'm not saying Elle's dad is some great saint, but he at least had Mr. Technus contained so he couldn't, you know, build another giant robot to go on a murderous rampage." Danny still didn't trust the man, but he had some points that weren't entirely bad. Mr. Masters wanted to protect Danny's parents and his daughter, but he went about it entirely the wrong way. The same was true for what he did with Mr. Technus. Trying to find away to help wake coma patients was noble, but the way he went about it and the results of his efforts were anything but good. "My dad helped to make sure Mr. Technus' powers are kept in check so he can't do something like that again. Now they're trying to talk him out of obsessively wanting to kill Mr. Masters because of what happened."

Some of the tension melted out of his friend as relief flooded his green eyes. "So he's okay," Tucker said. "Well, okay-ish. He wasn't, like, zapped out of existence or something after the robot fiasco."

"Hopefully, they can return him to, uh, semi-normal, though he probably won't be able to teach here again." Danny patted Tucker's shoulder comfortingly, knowing his friend would miss his teacher. "There's another thing though." He tugged at his ear and wouldn't look at his friends. "Uh, Elle is like me."

"What?" Confusion played across both friends' faces with their brows knitted or any eyebrow raised.

Danny sighed. "There was this huge accident that went down at her house, and well, she ended up getting ghost powers. Except she was a lot more unstable than I was so she started melting. But it's okay now!" he added quickly when his friends' expressions turned to horror. "My dad got her all stabilized so no more melting." He frowned. "But I do worry about her not being able to control her powers."

"I'm almost wondering when I'm going to end up with some powers or being possessed," Sam admitted.

"It's not very fun," Tucker told her, his voice losing any of his usual joking attitude. "Trust me. You are better off not being possessed by anything."

A tense silence followed before Sam cleared her throat. "Well, it might be good for Elle if Phantom showed up to help her learn to control her powers."

"Yeah, I was thinking about-"

"Danny!"

Danny spun around so quickly everything was a blur at first. Then his gaze landed on the woman running toward him with a bright smile on her face. "Elle!" he gasped, his brain blanking on other words. What was Elle doing here at Casper High?

Elle stopped before Danny and his friends, who were too stunned to respond. "Guess what? My dad said I can start here. Isn't that great?"

"Your... dad?" Danny blinked, like her words were in a foreign language.

"Yeah, uh," Elle chewed on her lip, shifting awkwardly, "well, some stuff happened, and he decided to try listening more to what I want to do with my life, so he agreed to let me switch schools. Maybe I'll be a little less stressed out about things here because it seems more relaxed. Well, compared to my school." She waved to Tucker and Sam behind him. "Hi, Danny's friends! Did I get your names before?"

"Oh, you have some friends here already?"

Danny tore his gaze away from Elle to see Lancer and Mr. Masters walking up to them. He gulped nervously when he caught Mr. Masters' gaze. There was something in his eyes, like he _knew_ something, and Danny found it rather unsettling.

"Well, we had some paperwork to finish up, so Elle won't officially start classes until next semester," Mr. Masters explained.

"We're very happy to have her here," Lancer said, smiling pleasantly. "Ah, Danny, I'd like a word with you."

Danny tensed. Being called into the vice-principal's office before classes even started on the first day back? It couldn't be good. "Right! Sure." He bobbed his head, wondering what he could have possibly done to get into trouble already. "I'll catch up with you later," he told his friends then followed after Lancer toward his office.

"It's nothing bad," Lancer told him, closing the door once they reached his office. "I just wanted to touch base with you. The holidays," he leaned against his desk, pushing aside a blue bottle with pink accents, "can be quite difficult, especially when so close to the loss of a family member. I understand if you're still not ready to talk about what happened. But I just want to make sure you're doing all right."

Danny breathed out in relief that it wasn't about him being in trouble. "It," he glanced away briefly, "wasn't easy. Remembering Jazz hurts, but we're trying to move on and keep her memory alive."

Lancer nodded, his posture relaxing a touch. "Good," he said with a bob of his head. "I'm glad that you're handling things well. I guess my worries were unfounded."

Danny shook his head. "It's good knowing you care so much about us, your students. You could easily write off our worries and problems as none of your business, but you want to do more than just teach us what's in the school curriculum. Helping us deal with major issues is another part of teaching us. I think you do a great job at it."

"I appreciate that." Lancer managed to school a small smile. "However, your flattery won't improve your grades. Only-"

"Hard work will do that." Danny nodded then grinned cheekily when Lancer frowned at the interruption. "Sorry. It's just your words from freshmen year really stuck with me."

"It's always good to know that students listen sometimes." Lancer pushed away from his desk. "I guess that's all then."

Danny nodded, still relieved the meeting wasn't because he was in trouble. He pointed to the bottle with the thin neck, trying to keep the amused smile from spreading too widely across his face. "Another wonderful gift from your sister?"

"I'm still trying to determine the best place to put it," Lancer admitted. "She's always finding interesting things on her travels." He picked up the bottle and turned it around in his hands as he examined it.

"Careful," Danny said teasingly. "You don't want to accidentally rub it and call forth a genie."

"No, I don't suppose I would." Lancer set the bottle back on his desk. "And you don't want to be late to class."

Danny nodded agreement. "See you in class!" He left the office then hurried down the hall before he could be late to his first class.


	65. Chapter 65

Danny shrugged off his bag when he entered his house, glad school was done for the day. He had a load of homework from the first day back after the winter break. Then he had patrolling, now that his grounding was over. He half worried his parents would tell him he wasn't allowed to run around as Phantom anymore. He knew how dangerous it was, and he was aware he needed to be more cautious about running blindly into a situation without knowing all the details. It was a fault he had. He was working on it. Honestly, he was.

Other than his homework load, the first day back went fairly smoothly after being called into Lancer's office. Tucker, thankfully, didn't get any pings alerting them to Ms. Spectra popping up at another school as a counselor. Danny was relieved about that, but it didn't mean he could stop worrying about her. She could still get hired somewhere days or weeks, or even months, down the line. They needed to keep watch for her so he could step in and stop her before she could repeat what happened with Tucker.

Danny dumped his bag on the couch in the front room, planning on doing his homework there. Then he walked into the kitchen as he stretched his arms over his head. He was feeling that "after break laziness" which made it difficult to get back into the rhythm of school, but he knew he just had to fight off that urge to kick back on the couch and flick randomly through channels or pick up his game again. Jazz would bop him on the head with a textbook and give him that look which told him he needed to focus on his studies. Danny smiled a little. On rare occasions, he could actually convince her to put the books away for a little while and join him for a brief game. Stress relief, she would say whenever he grinned a little too widely or a little too smugly at his victory.

"Something good happen today?"

Danny jerked his head around when he heard his mother. His parents had just come out of the laboratory, closing the door behind them. His father wiped his face with a rag, but a smear of grease remained across his brow. Danny bit back a laugh as he shook his head.

"Why do you ask that?" Danny walked over to the refrigerator to look for a quick snack to have while he did his homework.

"You don't normally smile when you come home from school," his mother explained. "Try not to snack too much. I don't want you ruining your supper."

Danny rolled his eyes as he grabbed the container of dip from the top shelf to have with some chips. "I won't, Mom," he replied in a teasing tone, which earned a small, and a little painful, tweak to the ear. He set the dip on the counter then turned to face his parents. His eyes shifted to green as he glanced around the kitchen. "But I have a surprise for you," he said when he spotted the ghost loitering around the refrigerator, examining the various notes and pictures posted on the door. "I brought a ghost home." He gestured toward the refrigerator like he was showing it off as a prize.

His parents stared at the refrigerator, both confused until it hit them. His father shouted out his realization then reached up to pull down his goggles over his eyes. They fiddled with their goggles, adjusting them to view different spectrums. It took some trial and error before they finally got it right. His mother gasped, holding a hand over her mouth while his father gawked with his mouth hanging slightly open. They couldn't believe a ghost, a real full ghost, was standing in their kitchen.

"This," Danny said as the ghost turned to face his parents, realizing he was now being seen by all, "is Clockwork." After his parents learned the truth, Danny wanted to let his parents meet a ghost, but he knew few ghosts by name. Ember, Kitty, and Johnny were unreachable. Clockwork wasn't easy to get a hold of, especially while being grounded. Once school ended, Danny headed back to the cemetery where he first met the ghost. It was a long shot, and he didn't hope for much. But Clockwork was there, at Jazz's grave, almost like he was expecting Danny to show up to see him.

Clockwork gave a gentlemanly bow when he was introduced.

"Um, so-" Danny rubbed at the back of his neck. He hadn't planned what would happen after he brought Clockwork home and introduced him to his parents. He figured his parents would launch into a thousand questions at once, but they seemed to have gone into shock about a ghost in the house. "Clockwork actually helped me learn how to call up energy for stuff." He held out a hand and, after shifting to his ghost form, conjured a small ball of ecto energy in his palm. He let it fade after a moment. "Though he forgot to tell me everything I could do with it." He frowned at the ghost.

"Well, I can't be responsible for telling you everything." Clockwork shrugged in his well fitted purple suit. Currently, he looked to be around his early thirties. His white hair hung down to his knees in a thick braid. "You can't have everything handed to you on a silver platter, you know. I only gave you the hint to get you started. What you do with the skill from there is up to your own creativity."

Danny huffed at the answer. Clockwork could have at least warned him about the drain on his power after using the ability as explosively as he did when facing Skulker and the mustached man. But maybe Clockwork considered it a learning experience for him.

"What's he saying?" his father asked.

"You didn't hear him?" Danny pointed at the ghost as he watched the confusion on his parents' faces. They shook their heads to answer his question.

"My apologies," Clockwork said with a tilt of his head toward Danny's parents, who jumped when hearing him for the first time. "You see, it's sort of like a window in a way. You gave them a way of peeking through the window to see what normally isn't visible to human eyes, but you don't always hear what's being said on the other side of a window. You only heard me before because I _wanted_ you to hear me. I was basically shouting through the window to be heard."

"That's interesting." His mother nodded with a hand held to her chin, and Danny could tell she was filing away the new information about ghosts.

"But," his father said, his face scrunching in that way he had when he was struggling with an idea, "Danny mentioned encountering some ghosts, and they had no trouble being seen and heard. Even the ghost who didn't know she was a ghost."

Clockwork nodded like he understood exactly what Danny's father was getting at, and Danny guessed he probably did. "Sometimes it's all about perception. The ghost you mean didn't realize she was dead, so she perceived herself as being seen and heard by the living; therefore, you could see and hear her. It's not uncommon for that to happen to ghosts who don't realize they're dead. You can imagine the fright for both parties when the ghost shows up to visit the living after being announced dead." The corner of his mouth curled like he had seen such an event occur, perhaps several times.

"But in general, ghosts tend to exist on this unseen spectrum?" his mother questioned.

"Generally yes," Clockwork agreed. "Many ghosts are content to simply exist without interacting with the living. Some enjoy pulling little pranks, where you have some harmless haunting type activities. Of course, you have those that linger where they were brutally murdered. Or you have the ghosts of violent individuals that wish to continue their terrible acts in the afterlife. And some like to pretend to still be alive and mingle with the living. It all varies from ghost to ghost."

His mother chewed on her thumbnail, which meant she had a thought on her mind. "Is it possible for a ghost not to remember their life before death?" Danny frowned, an idea of what his mother was trying to ask tickling at the back of his mind.

Clockwork shook his head. "While that does on occasion happen, it didn't happen with your daughter. She's not a ghost."

His mother clutched a hand to her husband's arm, both of them looking rather relieved to know that. "I do wish we could have talked to her one last time," she said, lowering her gaze. Tears prickled at her eyes, but she managed to hold them back. "To tell her how much we loved her."

"She knew," Clockwork said gently. "She always knew, even if she said or acted otherwise. And she wouldn't have asked for better parents. Maybe you're not the most conventional, but you were always the parents she needed."

Danny hadn't expect the conversation to take this turn, and even though his parents were rather emotional, he thought it was good for them to hear it. Maybe his parents and Jazz didn't always get along, with their different beliefs. They fought on occasion, but even at their worst, Danny knew there was still love between them.

"I don't suppose there's any hints you could give us," Danny said, shifting the conversation into a new direction. He grinned, hoping to encourage Clockwork to give them answers about who killed Jazz or anything about this organization that seemed to be involved in a lot of things happening in Amity Park.

"I'm afraid I can't." Clockwork shook his head, a scruffy beard growing along his jaw line as he gradually aged. His growth was more subtle than in the cemetery, but Danny's parents noticed it with widening eyes. "I'm really not supposed to interfere with time." He tilted his head a touch to one side with a small lift of his shoulders. "Unless absolutely necessary. Say, for example, an event that would lead to the apocalypse. I could step in to make sure that didn't happen and avert disaster. With you, you would have learned that ability anyway. I merely gave you a head start."

Danny frowned in disappointment. Some answers would be nice, but he guessed Clockwork couldn't go around making everything easy for people by giving them all the answers. It was like doing homework. It would be easy to cheat and have all the answers handed to him, but he wouldn't learn anything that way.

"Don't dismay. I have faith you'll figure things out," Clockwork told him confidently, and Danny wished he could feel that same confidence in himself.

"Yeah!" his father agreed. "We can figure this out on our own." Said like that, Danny could almost believe it.

"Indeed." Clockwork smiled with confidence. Then he glanced at a watch on his wrist. "Unfortunately, I have another meeting to make." He smiled to Danny's parents. "It was a great pleasure to meet you. I look forward to seeing more of your work regarding ghosts. Pleasant dreams." Then, after a sweeping bow, he twirled his staff clockwise and vanished.

"He knows our work?" his mother questioned in surprise after a beat of shocked silence.

Danny shrugged. "He sees a lot of what happens. And it would make sense for him to keep tabs on the leading experts on ghost research, wouldn't it?" His parents nodded, seeing the sense in that. If his parents' research led to anything that could cause serious disaster to ghosts, or even the world, Clockwork would want to stir them clear of that. "Did you visit Mr. Technus today?" Danny grabbed the bag of chips from the cabinet. His parents pulled him into a sudden hug, and Danny grunted, nearly dropping the chips to the floor.

"Sorry," his mother said when they pulled away. She lifted the goggles to rest on top of her head so she could wipe the tears away from one eye. "We just - We needed that."

His father nodded, dropping a hand onto Danny's shoulder. "And yes, we went over to Vlad's to help with Mr. Technus today." He sighed as he wiped a hand over his face, exhaustion showing the bags under his eyes. "We have to keep him from seeing Vlad while we talk to him or he starts shouting that he'll kill Vlad."

His mother put her hand on his arm and squeezed it. "We'll get through to him. We just have to keep trying."

Danny frowned as he watched his parents. "Is it that easy to forgive? After what he did?"

"Forgive him?" His mother's mouth pulled downward as she exchanged a look with her husband. "We aren't the ones who need to forgive him. What he did was done to Mr. Technus, and it'll be up to Mr. Technus whether to forgive him or not. We understand he had good intentions with his actions, but good intentions don't excuse the results of those actions."

"He's still our friend," his father added. "We don't approve of his actions in this case, but we're not just going to abandon him over one mistake. Even though it had a terrible consequence." His brow furrowed. "I know it might not make sense to stick by his side. But would you abandon you friends if they made a mistake?"

Danny lowered his gaze, thinking about when Tucker was possessed by the ghost. Tucker could have done a lot of damage if Danny hadn't stopped him. Even if his anger was directed solely at Danny, Tucker, in that state, might not have cared about any innocent bystanders he hurt along the way. Danny never once considered not being Tucker's friend after that. He felt partly to blame for what happened. Frowning, he realized maybe his parents felt some blame in regards to Mr. Masters' actions. If they had stayed in touch all these years instead of letting him push them away, maybe they could have stopped him from trying to wake Mr. Technus from his coma.

"Well, if you're keeping an eye on him, I guess I don't have to worry about him." Danny believed his parents would step in to stop Mr. Masters from repeating another mistake.

"If he tries anything stupid, I'll give him a good whack to the head," his mother said, holding up a fist with a serious expression.

Danny cringed, hoping Mr. Masters kept himself out of trouble. He grabbed the dip from the counter. "Well, time to get that homework done." He groaned as he walked toward the kitchen door.

"Oh," his father said, and Danny stopped then turned back to them, "Vlad may have mentioned that it would be nice if Phantom could show up and maybe help Elle with the whole being part ghost thing."

Danny nodded. "I'll stop by to check on her tonight before I start patrolling." He hesitated, waiting for his parents to say he was forbidden from patrolling.

His mother frowned but eventually sighed. "Please be careful." She placed a hand to her cheek. "I'm going to be worrying all night until you come home."

Danny walked back over to her and hugged his mother. "I promise I'll be careful." Then he returned to the front room to start on his homework.


	66. Chapter 66

When it came time to go on his usual patrol, Danny eagerly donned his Phantom suit. He checked in with his parents to let them know he was leaving, which felt strange after keeping it secret from them for as long as he did. His mother, once again, made him promise to be careful while he was on patrol. Danny almost rolled his eyes but stopped himself. His parents already lost one child, and knowing Danny was out there fighting criminals and with the Guys in White around, they feared for the worst. So he smiled and nodded and promised to be safe to give his parents that little peace of mind. They would still worry, he knew, but somehow making the promise helped them.

He left the house, flying invisibly through the sky. After being grounded from Phantom activity, he savored the sensation of freedom that came with flying. He spent maybe more time than he should have simply watching the town pass below him with everything looking smaller than normal. Then he reminded himself he wasn't out for playing. He changed direction midflight and headed for the Masters' home.

Danny stared down at the house when he arrived. The window that was broken before he arrived during the incident with Elle was fixed sometime over the break. Danny wasn't surprised by that. Mr. Masters was rich and could pay workers off to get repairs done quickly. It was the same with the destruction caused by Mr. Technus going after Mr. Masters too. The repairs were made quickly, fixing the house back to normal like the attack never happened. But Danny hadn't come over since what happened with Elle. She hadn't called, and even if she had asked him to come over for tutoring, Danny was grounded for the remainder of the break.

Danny flew around to Elle's room then turned visible when he reached her window. Elle laid on her stomach on her bed, flipping through a textbook while chewing on the end of a pen. Her feet were in the air, crossed at the ankles. Danny waited a moment then rapped lightly on the window. Elle jumped, the noise surprising her. Her gaze darted toward the window, for a moment fright in her wide blue eyes. Then a smile stretched over her face when she saw him. She hopped off her bed and rushed over to the window.

"Phantom!" Elle greeted, opening the window unnecessarily. "What are you doing here?"

Danny floated into the room. "Well, after what happened, I thought I should come check and see how you are doing."

Elle walked over to her bed and dropped down on it. "No more melting," she said, putting on a smile that faded quickly. "It's been kind of weird though. I'll be doing fine. Then just, you know, walk through a wall or sink the floor without meaning to. I'm really excited about getting to go to a different school. But what if I can't get a handle on these powers? I know it's important that I don't expose my powers to anyone."

Danny sat down next to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It takes some practice and getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it. That was actually another reason I wanted to visit you. If you want, I could help you learn how to control some of these powers."

Elle's mouth hung open as her eyes grew big. Then she fell through the bed, Danny responding quickly to catch hold of her and help her back up. Redness blossomed over her cheeks. "Really?" she asked, tentatively glancing up at him. "Wouldn't that take time out of your crime fighting?"

Danny shrugged. "The police can take care of it." His mouth pressed thinned when he thought of something. "The real police."

Elle frowned, lowering her gaze. "Yeah, my dad warned me about the Guys in White. It kind of scares me. Knowing they're out there. Looking for ghosts." She suddenly vanished, but when his shifted eyes, Danny could see her like when he first met Clockwork. She was in her ghost form with the strange blue skin and white hair. "What if they find me? What if they try to catch me or worse?"

Danny took hold of her hands and squeezed them. "Your dad and I won't let that happen. We'll keep you safe. But the presence of the Guys in White is all the more reason why you should learn to control your powers. If you slip up in front of them, things could get very dangerous."

Elle nodded but still seemed pretty shaken over the prospect. "I know. It's just been hard. My dad tried to help, but he only really knows about controlling emotions so he doesn't reveal his true face. He doesn't have any powers. He doesn't know about controlling invisibility or intangibility."

"And that's why I'm here." Danny's plan was simply to check in with Elle and offer to help her with her ghost powers then he would head off to patrol. But he couldn't leave her like this. She was worried and scared, and she needed him. "Come on. On your feet! Let's get started."

"What?" Elle gasped as Danny stood and pulled her to her feet. "Right now?"

"No better time than the present." Danny rubbed at his chin. Where did he even begin? He had his own experiences learning to control his powers, but trying to explain it all to someone else was completely different. "For me, I learned powers slowly. I started with intangibility then learned invisibility a little later down the line. But it seems like you can do both of those already, though not always on purpose."

Elle nodded. "Yeah, I tried doing it on purpose a few times, but nothing happened." She frowned, disappointment in her eyes.

"That's okay," Danny told her, trying to be encouraging. "I couldn't do it right the first time either." He smiled a little, remembering back to when he was first learning to control his powers and ran into the shelves of boxes in the warehouse. At the time, it was frustrating, but looking back on it now, he could laugh about it. "And don't worry about not getting it right away. This isn't like school. You're not being graded on this. It's okay to fail. We'll just keep trying until you can get it."

Elle nodded, releasing a shaky breath. "Okay. Right." A smile slowly spread over her face. "Yeah!" she agreed with a little more enthusiasm. "Thanks." She tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "I guess I was just getting myself all freaked out." She took a deep breath, visibly relaxing. "Okay. Let's do this." She held up a fist, determination flashing in her green eyes.

"That's the spirit!" Danny grinned, happy to see Elle acting like her usual self. "So, first, we can start with invisibility." He decided it might be easiest to begin there since Elle was already invisible. The problem was she wasn't even aware of it. They got to work on the training, and Danny did his best to explain invisibility, with the plan to move on to intangibility after she got the hang of the first skill. It was more difficult than he thought it would be, and he wasn't sure he was doing a good job of helping Elle.

"This is exhausting!" Elle collapsed onto her bed, breathing heavily with a light sheen of sweat on her brow. After roughly two hours of working on her powers, she was too drained to continue.

"It'll get easier with practice," Danny assured her. "Trust me. You would have laughed watching me figure out these powers on my own." He smiled, and it seemed knowing even Phantom struggled with this helped Elle relax about her own struggles.

"Was there anything that helped make this easier?" Elle rested her chin in her hands as she stared up at him.

"Well," Danny folded his arms, "having a focus really helped. Ghosts have obsessions." He held up a hand. "I know that might sound bad, and I guess it sort of is, but it doesn't have to be bad. Having that obsession makes it easier to get a handle on your ghost powers." Now that he thought about it, it explained why Mr. Technus and Ember had no trouble utilizing their powers. They had obsessions in mind when they became ghosts. "You were able to use your ghost powers before, when you first got them, because you had a strong goal in mind at that time. You were angry with your dad, and hurting him was your focus. But now that you've calm down and you're patching things up with your dad, you've lost that focus."

"So I just need to come up with an obsession, and this ghost power stuff will get easier?"

"It's a theory." Danny shrugged. "As soon as I made the decision to use my powers to stop criminals and protect people, it all became easier for me."

A sly grin slipped onto her face. "Maybe I should take up crime fighting with you."

"Something tells me your dad wouldn't be happy about that." Danny worried Elle might be serious about it though. If she was going to do it, it was better for her to be under his care than running around by herself. Danny knew how to fight from his mother and aunt. He didn't know if Elle ever had any sort of training.

Elle pouted then sighed. "Yeah, this whole thing is supposed to be to help keep me safe. The Guys in White have him pretty freaked out, even if he tries not to show it."

"Which is why it wouldn't be a good idea for you to run around like me. I know it sounds hypocritical since I'm doing the hero thing, but the Guys in White are no joke. Thanks to Officer Walker, they've already infiltrated the police. I - Your dad would hate to have anything happen to you at their hands."

"Yeah, I know." Elle rolled into a sitting position at the foot of her bed then hopped to her feet. "Being a superhero sounds exciting. But I'm pretty sure that's more responsibility then I really want to deal with. I already have enough on my plate with school and now ghost powers. I don't need the added stress of stopping criminals too."

Danny chuckled, rubbing at the back of his neck as he hung his head. "Yeah, it can be exciting and stressful. But it's something I have to do."

Elle nodded as she slapped a hand onto his shoulder. "And you do it well. But I guess I shouldn't take up anymore of your time. You probably need to patrol and stuff."

Danny frowned. "Yeah," helping Elle had distracted him, "I guess I should. You'll be okay?"

Elle rolled her eyes. "I think I can manage. But I'll keep trying with the stuff you told me about. I'll get it eventually." She looked at him with determination. Then her expression softened, and she smiled. "You're pretty easy to talk to." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she rocked back on her heels. "I kind of thought maybe you'd be a little more intimidating."

Danny rolled his shoulder. "Hey, I'm not any different from anyone else." He reached out, grinning behind his mask as he ruffled Elle's hair. "I'm just a ghost trying to help out those who need it."

Elle swatted at his hand with a huff of annoyance. When Danny pulled his hand back, Elle shifted her weight as she worried her lower lip. "Really, thank you. For all you've done for my family. I know my dad isn't," she lifted her shoulders, "a perfectly standup guy and we haven't always seen eye to eye, but I wouldn't want to lose him. So thanks for stopping me. Uh, maybe you could pass my thanks onto that other one? You know, the red and black suited woman?"

Danny bit back a laugh. "Yeah," he nodded, "I think I can pass that along for you."

Elle's expression brightened with a smile. "Thanks!"

Danny nodded then after a slight awkward pause, he said, "Right. I should probably get to my patrolling then. Keep up with practicing. I'll try to check back in with you every few days or so."

"Only if it's not inconvenient for you."

Danny's mouth pulled downward. "It'll never be an inconvenience," he assured her as he squeezed her shoulder. "Take care until next time." He left the house with mixed feelings. He was happy the training was going all right so far, even if the progress in controlling her powers was slow, but he didn't like that Elle saw herself as an inconvenience. Years of thinking like that could be hard to break. He remembered how it felt to think he was stupid because he wasn't as smart as Jazz or his parents. It took someone believing in him and encouraging him to push him to try harder at school and see he was smarter than he originally thought. Maybe he could do the same for Elle that Lancer did for him.

As he flew away from the Masters' house, Danny pulled out his phone. It was odd, having Valerie on his list of contacts in his phone, but he saved it from when she texted him earlier. He thought maybe it would come in handy if he ever needed to reach her, for any reason. He typed out a quick message to pass on Elle's words of thanks to Valerie. Before he could put his phone away, it buzzed in his hands.

"That was quick," he mumbled, halting in his flight to check the incoming text.

[ _tracking your why thru the consternation_ ]

Danny blinked at the text from D then laughed so hard he almost fell out of the sky. Snickering, he sent his reply.

[ _I think auto correct is attacking again_.]

He patrolled around town, looking for any signs of criminal activity. He spotted some Guys in White walking around with weapons Danny certainly didn't want tested on him. When he saw them, he steered clear, hoping they didn't have anything like his parents' invention which could detect the presence of ghosts.

[ _ah auto correct, my old enemy! i shall get my vegetable one day!_ ]

Danny smiled at the phone screen.

[ _there's a update 4 game coming out. maybe we could play a few rounds. when we both have time_.]

He hadn't played the game in a while, too focused on more important things. But Danny missed playing against D, and a bit of goofing off on the weekend wouldn't hurt anything.

[ _yea! looking into things rn. but might be free soonish1_ ]

Danny almost whooped out loud when he read D's reply.

[ _give me a heads up when ur available_.]

With that, Danny stuffed his phone back into his pocket and focused on his patrol. Unfortunately, it was a quiet night.


	67. Chapter 67

"So who exactly is this Mr. Copycat Costume?"

Danny turned intangible, allowing the criminal about to punch him to instead run right through him and slam into the wall behind him. "Who?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow at Valerie, who was dealing with a criminal of her own. They happened on the electronics store break in together by chance, and though it was easy enough for either of them to handle alone, they agreed to team up to take down the robbers. Why not get experience fighting alongside each other? He dodged when his criminal tried to punch him again. These weren't the brightest criminals, and they seemed to favor the "throw random punches and hope to hit something" tactic, which wasn't working out well for them. Danny tripped the man, knocking him flat on his back.

"Are you really going to play dumb here?" Valerie struck her man in the gut with her staff then whacked him on the back of his head when he bent forward. He hit the ground and didn't move. Valerie leaned on her staff as she turned to face Danny. "What other costumed person is running around town? There's me," she placed a hand to her chest then gestured to him, "and you. Then there's that other guy."

"Oh," Danny replied dumbly, feeling rather hot behind his mask. "Wait. How do you even know about him?" He had only talked to Sam and Tucker about Dan, and Valerie wasn't present for the conversation.

"Oh, we've met." There was a smirk in the way she said it, which left Danny feeling nervous.

"Let's take care of these guys." Danny waved at the robbers. "Then we can talk about this."

Once they had the two would be burglars' hands and feet zip tied, Danny grabbed Valerie's hand and phased them out the back way of the electronics store. In the distance, they heard the siren of the police on their way to pick up the robbers. Valerie dropped her hover board, which unfolded a few inches above the ground, then climbed onto it.

"So?" she questioned, folding her arms. "Want to explain now?"

Danny sighed, floating up toward the roof of the building. He wanted to get far away from the electronics store before the police arrived, especially if one of the officers worked for the Guys in White. "He's," Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "just someone who I run into sometimes fighting crime."

"Really?" Valerie was nowhere near convinced by his answer. "He seemed to be pretty into you. Or at least, Phantom. He doesn't know who you are, does he?"

"No." Danny shook his head. He was, maybe ninety-eight percent certain about that. "But," he landed on the edge of the roof top while Valerie continued to hover over the back alley, "my parents found out. They, uh, weren't too happy about it."

"I'm guessing that explains the brief disappearance of Phantom."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, they," he shrugged, "grounded me for keeping this whole thing a secret."

"I imagine it's a relief to finally have them know the truth. I have a hard enough time keeping this secret from my aunt and uncle."

"Way big relief," Danny agreed. "Uh, but how did you run into Dan?"

"Oh?" That smirk was back in Valerie's voice, and Danny cringed. "So his name is Dan?" She held her arms around her waist as she laughed. "Oh, wow! Dan and-" She coughed before she could say his name out loud. They might be alone currently, but the police were almost there. And who could say there wasn't someone spying on them? It was better not to say their real names out loud.

"Yeah, I kind of laughed about it too." Danny chuckled. "So how do you know him?"

"Afraid I might steal him away from you?"

Danny cheeks warmed as he spluttered out, "No!"

Valerie laughed at his response. "Don't worry. I'm not interested in him." She folded her arms. "I'll make this quick since we should really get out of here. We bumped into each other trying to find a lead to nailing Officer Walker. We found a witness, but he doesn't want to come forward for fear of his life."

Danny nodded. "I don't want anyone risking their life unnecessarily."

"Yeah," Valerie agreed with a bit of a sigh in her voice. "The best we can hope for now is catching Officer Walker in the act of breaking the law. Or catching him talking about what he did."

"Hm," Danny held a hand to his chin, "that won't be easy. But if we keep watch on him, we might get lucky."

"Exactly. Now you're up to speed. We can talk more about this later. Stay safe."

"You too!" Danny called as Valerie flew off, leaving the scene just as the police car pulled up in front of the electronics store. He shift to invisible to avoid being seen by the police officers then left too.

Danny frowned as he soared over the town. Another crime was stopped, and the burglars were heading to jail. He should feel good about that, but his mind was on what Valerie told him. His friends hadn't even met Dan, but Valerie had. For some reason, he didn't like it. He told his friends about Dan. But having them meet him? He chewed on his lip, worrying over how that meeting might go. Would his friends like Dan? They had encouraged him to talk about his feelings to Dan, but they might not be so supportive after meeting him. He shook the thought from his head. He would simply have to cross that particular bridge whenever he got to it.

The more important part of the conversation was about Officer Walker. Having a witness to the incident at the police precinct was good, but Danny would never want to force the witness to speak if that person feared for their life. But how were they going to expose Officer Walker? Whatever they got on Officer Walker needed to be something big. It couldn't be some minor misdemeanor that could be easily ignored. But it would require-

Danny swerved when his ghost sense alerted him to danger. A burst of electric green shot past him, burning too close to him for comfort. He could feel the heat of it, making his skin prickle uncomfortably. Then his shoulder exploded in fiery pain, wrenching a shout from him. His ghost sense had failed to alert him to the second shot in time to avoid it. He gritted his teeth against the pain and turned to seek out where the shooter was located. He found the man, decked out in that irritating white suit, lurking on one of the nearby rooftops with a rifle in his hands. Energy gathered around his fists as anger welled up inside him. He was furious at the presence of the Guys in White in Amity Park. Then he lost hold of it. The energy faded away from his hands, and he plummeted toward the street below.

Danny called up his power, but there was nothing. All his energy was gone like it was zapped out of him. The wind whipped past him, and Danny flailed his arms but had nothing to grab hold of to stop his descent. _Cassiopeia!_ This was not how things were supposed to go. Where did that Guy in White even come from? How did he managed to shoot Danny while invisible? It didn't make any sense. But if he didn't figure out something in the next ten seconds, Danny was going to be a big mess on the pavement.

If that wasn't a big enough problem already, Danny spotted a flash of green coming from the direction of the Guys in White agent. He glanced toward it, his heart stopping when he saw the net flying toward him. Neither of his current options were desirable in any way. But what could he do? His powers were shorted out at the moment. The only thing he had on him was his phone, which wouldn't do him much good if whoever he called couldn't make it in time to catch him before he either hit the pavement or was snagged by the net. Even with her hover board, it would be a miracle for Val-

Danny grunted when he was caught in someone's arms. Panic raced through him. Had he missed a second Guys in White agent? He only saw the one. But relief filled him when he looked and found Dan was the one who caught him. The relief was short lived, however, as he remembered the situation. Dan might have caught him and he may no long plummeting straight down to the street, but the danger hadn't ended. The net from the Guys in White agent missed them by a foot as they fell. Toward a building on the left side of the street.

"We're going die!" Danny shouted in panic seeing the rooftop rushing at them.

"Hang on tight!"

Danny instinctively clung to Dan, praying his powers would kick in before they hit the roof. Or worse, smashed into the side of it. Dan hit the rooftop, stumbled a few steps, pitched forward, twisted mid fall, wrapped his arms securely around Danny, protecting his head as they rolled several feet across the hard rooftop. When everything stilled, Danny almost choked trying to breathe, his heart feeling like it leapt into his throat and lodged there in his fright. Somehow they had made it. A laugh bubbled out of him, terrified and amazed.

"So you really can make a jump like that," Danny said, almost not believing they weren't gooey meat patties all over the street.

"Of course," Dan responded confidently. "Told you I could, didn't I?"

Something about the exchange tickled at the back of his mind, but Danny's attention quickly shifted to the more immediate problem. His ghost sense might not be working, but he heard footsteps rushing toward them. Danny struggled to his feet but wobbled, dropping to his knees. The incident turned out in his favor as the agent's shot missed, passing right over his head. If he had remained on his feet, he would have taken the shot to his chest. With how sore his shoulder still felt, he was glad to have missed the shot.

Dan leaped onto his feet with a roar. Then he barreled toward the Guys in White agent, who obviously wasn't expecting the bigger and more muscular man to charge him. The agent released a squeak and ducked down into a crouch, arms up over his head to protect it when Dan grabbed at him. Instead of crushing the man's head, Dan ended up with the rifle. He smashed the weapon over his knee then tossed the two pieces in opposite directions. Raising an arm in the air, Dan readied to strike at the agent.

"Stop!" Danny shouted, and Dan halted with his arm halfway toward the agent. "He's defenseless." He struggled to his feet as he rubbed his woozy head.

"He shot you!" Dan argued, gesturing furiously at the agent.

"And you're just going to, what? _Kill_ him?" Danny demanded with a burning glare that went unseen behind his mask.

Dan shifted, hesitant in his response. "No," he answered after a beat of silence, but it sounded more questioning than a firm answer.

"You can't just kill someone because they shot at me. He's unarmed now, and attacking him wouldn't help prove that I'm not a threat to them." Danny sighed, tired and wanting to go home to relax. His shoulder throbbed as if to remind him he still had an injury to take care of when he got home. "Let's just go."

Dan grumbled, loudly, about not liking the idea of letting the man get off scot free, but Danny ignored him. He wanted to get away from the agent while his powers remained down. Biting his lip, he recalled his discussion with his friends. Once they were safely away from the Guys in White, this would be a good time to talk with Dan. If he didn't completely chicken out.

"Hang on for a moment."

Danny paused near the edge of the rooftop, where the fire escape was located, then turned to the mercenary. "What is it?" He frowned, hoping Dan wasn't about to try to convince him the Guys in White agent needed to be "dealt with."

"Sorry. I'm not very delicate with this sort of thing."

"Wait. Wh- AH!"

Dan grabbed hold of Danny's shoulder then, without ceremony, dug his fingers into the injury left when the agent shot at him. Danny gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to spin around and punch the mercenary. When the fingers pulled free of his shoulder, he felt, oddly, better. His shoulder hurt even more than before, but he could feel his power again, like a dam had burst allowing them to flow freely again.

"Nice little trick," Dan said, and Danny turned to see him smash a small, bullet sized device between his fingers. "I bet that had a tracker in it so they could keep tabs on you at all times."

Danny frowned. The device wasn't simply a tracker. It had cut off his ability to use his powers. In the future, he would have to be more alert so the Guys in White wouldn't be able to surprise him a second time. Dan might not be there to catch him if his powers got cancelled out in midair again. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Dan.

"Your timing was pretty convenient," Danny said with a touch of suspicion in his voice.

"Purely a coincidence," Dan assured him.

Danny didn't quite believe him, but given the circumstances, he decided to let his doubt slide. He was thankful Dan showed up when he did. His ghost sense tingled. Danny shoved the mercenary behind him, throwing an arm out before him as he raised a shield to protect them. The shot from the small pistol bounced off the shield, and the agent cursed under his breath, having missing his chance to catch the two of them by surprise.

"I'm not the villain," Danny told the agent, not willing to drop the shield while the man still had his pistol pointed at them. "I'm simply trying to protect the people of this town, but you people are making that difficult by getting in the way." The agent fired several more shots at them, and Danny ground his teeth as he kept a hold on the shield. The pistol clicked but didn't fire another round. The agent toss his pistol away and searched for another weapon to use against them.

"This guy is kind of pathetic," Dan mumbled, watching as the agent fumbled to remove his boot. Disdain was heavy in his voice, like the idea of wasting time fighting someone like this agent disgusted him.

Danny grabbed Dan's hand. "Let's get out of here before he decides to do something even dumber." He turned them invisible, watching as the agent struggled to yank free the knife from the holster in his boot. Then he phased them through the roof of the building, lowering them down to the ground floor before exiting out the side of the building.

"Dan, we should-"

"Fix up that shoulder." Dan yanked him down the street, holding onto the arm that wasn't injured. Danny recognized the direction they were headed, and rather than argue, he merely sighed and followed along. Talking in private was a better idea than doing it out in the street where anyone could overhear them. His shoulder also continued to throb.


	68. Chapter 68

How many times did this make it? Danny wondered as he phased them through the front door of Dan's safe house. Once they were inside, he allowed the invisibility to drop. He nervously licked his lips, but he needed to have this conversation with Dan. He had told his friends next time he saw Dan he would talk to him about his feelings. Part of him, though, thought the opportunity wouldn't present itself for a much longer time.

"First thing, we take care of that shoulder." Dan ushered him toward the bathroom, which the young hero remembered from his first visit.

Danny winced when he recalled the pain of having his foot stabbed. "I can take care of it myself," he protested in a rush. He knew he needed to confess to Dan, but he needed a little more time to put his thoughts together and figure out how exactly to say it.

"The wound is on the back of your shoulder. I think you'll need a little help." Dan gave him a last nudge into the bathroom.

"You know, I heal faster than normal people, right?" Danny backed up until he bumped into the sink counter.

"A healing factor, hm?" Dan didn't sound as impressed as Danny might have thought he would. "Not much of one though. I pretty much broke both legs on that landing. But they healed up already." He lifted up one leg and knocked on it as if to prove it was no longer broken. "Now let me take a look at that. Healing factor or not, you shouldn't just leave it as is."

"No, no!" Danny held out a hand to keep Dan at bay.

"I promise you don't have to remove your mask."

Danny almost groaned out loud because his identity wasn't even a thought in his head right then. Instead, he sighed, rubbing at his temple. "Fine." Turning his back to Dan, he chewed on his lower lip. This hardly felt like the best time to blurt out his feelings. "H-How did you know? About the tracker, I mean." He winced when Dan ripped his suit. It wasn't just because his shoulder stung. Tucker was going to throw a fit when he saw what happened to the suit.

"It was a guess." Dan dabbed at the injury with a wet cloth, cleaning away the ectoplasm as best he could. "I tried to think like them. And if I were them, I'd want to tag you with a tracker so I could always find you. Kind of a cheap tactic. I prefer the thrill of hunting down my prey by my own skills."

Danny frowned, reminded again of Dan's profession. The prey he hunted down usually ended up dead. He hunched his shoulders forward, with a wince, as an icy lump settled in his gut. It was a hard point for him to simply overlook. "Have-" He hesitated, biting his tongue. "Have you ever considered not killing?"

Dan laid a gauze bandage square over the injury but froze at the question. "Do you think I'm a bad person?"

"What?" Danny twisted around sharply, the bandage ripping away from his shoulder and dangling limply from Dan's hands. "That - That's not what I meant! You have good points. You do some good things! That's-" Frowning, he lowered his gaze. "That's why I don't understand why you need to kill people as part of your job. Is it just about the money? Or - Or do you enjoy it?"

Dan was silent. Then he forced Danny to turn around and nearly slapped the bandaged onto his shoulder. Danny cringed and ground his teeth as his shoulder throbbed. "The money is great. Those jobs usually pay the big bucks. But," Dan held his hand over on Danny's shoulder, covering the injury, "it's not just the money. It's not even about enjoying it. Which I do. Sorry if that makes you think of me as a bad person, but I like the power and control I feel."

"Because you get to play god?" When the bitter question left his lips, Danny felt the urge to bang his head against the bathroom mirror. This wasn't at all how he wanted the conversation leading up to his confession to go.

Dan flipped him around then stepped forward, effectively trapping Danny against the sink counter. "You don't get it." His face was right in front of Danny's, who gulped nervously. "You're young and idealistic. That's not a bad thing to be, but it makes you naive sometimes. You think it's so black and white. Killing is wrong, and people who kill are evil. But have you stopped to consider the type of people I kill? Do you think I take on jobs to kill someone for something like embezzling?" Dan snorted in derision, his hands squeezing around Danny's wrists. "That's not who I go after. I go after the serial killers who attack women. The people that rape others. The ones that abuse children. I go after the scum of the earth to stop them from creating more victims."

Danny swiped his tongue over his lips, his brain buzzing at this information. "Why not just turn them over to the police?"

"You really think some jail time will make them change? They'll get out eventually. Then they'll just go right back to their disgusting behavior." Dan slammed a hand down on the sink counter as he grabbed hold of Danny's chin with his other hand and leaned in closer. "You have these strong moral convictions preventing you from even considering the idea of killing, and I really admire that about you. But some of those criminals have no qualms about killing people. Those same criminals would gut you like a fish the moment you hesitate in a fight."

Danny breathed shakily, his heart stuck somewhere in his throat. But something the mercenary said struck a nerve. "You think I'm so pure that I've never wanted to kill someone?" He grabbed a fistful of Dan's costume and shoved forward until he slammed the mercenary into the wall next to the bathroom door. "Someone close to me was murdered, and I was filled with pain and anger. When I found the person I thought was responsible, I _wanted_ to kill him. It would have been easy! But then I remembered I had people who would have been disappointed in me if I turned into a killer. My parents - My sister certainly wouldn't have wanted me to kill in her name."

"Not all of us have people like that in our lives!" Dan shouted in his face.

"I know!" Danny snapped back. His fist squeezed tightly around the fabric of Dan's suit. "I know," he repeated quietly, lowering his gaze. "I'm sorry about what happened to your parents. And I think they would be thankful that you didn't die that day with them. That man would have killed you if you hadn't done anything to protect yourself." He frowned, his hand loosening on Dan's suit. "I can't force you to stop killing. I'm not even going to try because it's your life. It has to be your decision whether you want to continue killing or to make a change in your life."

Dan snorted. "You sound like someone I know when you say that."

Danny managed a small smile. "Sounds like someone I'd like." But his brow creased as he lifted his gaze. "But I know you're capable of doing good things. Those orphans sure looked up to you like a hero."

With a heavy sigh, Dan wrapped his arms around Danny, nearly squeezing the air of him. "You make me feel crazy things, AstroNerd!"

Danny tensed in the mercenary's arms, his eyes growing wide. Did he just- His mouth dropped open. "D is for Dan! How did I not get that?"

Dan chuckled, the sound deep and rich with Danny's ear practically pressed to his chest. "I only just figured it out when we landed on the building. You mentioned the jump being possible. Only AstroNerd would have known that."

Danny didn't know what to think at first. Then he laughed, unable to help it. The whole thing was almost ridiculous.

"I didn't think it was that funny," Dan commented, sounding like he was frowning as Danny laughed.

"Ah, sorry." Danny shook his head as he pulled away from the mercenary. He leaned on the sink counter, his shoulder a dull throb now. "It's just a little crazy. You're Dan the mercenary. You're D the gamer. You're the hooded man who took care of Cujo. We met again and again and didn't even realize we were the same people the whole time."

Dan stayed quiet, remaining as he was against the wall. Then he placed a hand over his eyes and threw back his head as he barked out a laugh that made Danny jump. "I bet they all saw this coming," he mumbled. "Obvious in retrospect, but when you're living it, sometimes you miss the obvious."

"What?" Danny's brow wrinkled with confusion.

Dan shook his head. "Nothing. Ignore that."

Danny shifted uncomfortably as a silence fell over them. "So," he bit the inside of his cheek, "I kind of promised myself I would talk to you about something next time we saw each other." Dan tilted his head, either confused or to say "go on." Danny opted to go with the latter. He licked his lips as his heart hiccupped. He was going to do this. "Well, asking you why you kill was part of it. Because, you see, that's been a major source of conflict for me. Because I like you. And I don't mean just in the whole you're great to hang out with and I enjoying talking with you and you make me laugh kind of way. And now I'm rambling." He rubbed at his forehead. He had always been bad at trying to tell someone how he felt. "What I'm saying is I like you as more than a friend." At that moment, he was thankful for his mask. His face was burning from ear to ear. His mouth felt like he had tried to swallow a bag of cotton swabs. His palms were sweaty, and he resisted the urge to try wiping them dry on his legs. He shifted nervously when silence followed his confession.

"You're not playing a joke on me, right?" Dan asked hesitantly, and perhaps a little bit guarded.

Danny jolted at the question. "I wouldn't joke about something like this!" he snapped, angered and offended. "I don't play with people's emotions. I. Like. You. Dan. That's not a lie or a joke. It's the truth."

Dan rubbed a hand over his head. "I didn't see that coming," he mumbled.

"You didn't?" Danny tilted his head, his eyebrows lifting in surprise.

Dan shook his head. "We got along, and I liked you. But I never thought you'd like me back that way."

"I never intended for it to happen." Danny scratched at his cheek. "But I could only really deny it for so long before I just had to give in and admit it to myself. I like you. I don't like that you kill people for money, but I still like you."

Dan lowered his head. "It makes me really happy hearing that. But you may not like as much when you know me better."

"And maybe I'll like you _more_. Don't think we're doomed before we've even had a date!" Danny frowned at the lack of response from the mercenary. If they liked each other, what was the problem? He knew his age was an issue, but he wouldn't be seventeen forever. With a sigh, he reverted to human and removed his mask. "Is it my age? Because I'll be eighteen in March."

"That's not it." Dan breathed out heavily as he stood up straight. "You might feel differently after you've seen what I look like."

It was true Danny hadn't seen Dan's face yet, but he doubted it could be that bad looking. He chewed on his lip. But Dan had gone to lengths to keep his face hidden. What exactly was he trying to hide? Part of Danny worried about it, but he cast that part aside. He liked Dan. What did it matter? He marched over to the mercenary.

"Then let me see!" Danny reached to grab for the mask, but Dan caught his hands.

"Are you really sure you want to do that? There's no going back once you've seen."

"One thousand percent positive." Danny grabbed hold of the hem of Dan's mask. He hesitated, waiting to see if the mercenary would protest or stop him. When Dan remained still, Danny ripped the mask off him. He froze at the sight, too surprised for words.

Dan's red eyes turned away to avoid seeing Danny's reaction to his appearance. Even when he tried not to imagine what was behind the mask, Danny couldn't deny this wasn't it. The unusual shade of green, or maybe aquamarine, hardly caused a shock to Danny. His own skin when he was a ghost was pale green. Mr. Masters and Elle shared the same blue skin as ghosts. Clockwork and Quinn also had blue skin, though much paler than Mr. Masters and Elle. Danny was long past being surprised by ghosts with unusual colored skin. It was the nasty scarring over Dan's face that left Danny speechless. He imagined it was what flesh looked like after being set on fire. The scarring covered much of his face, stretching down to disappear beneath the collar of his suit. He jumped when white flames burst over Dan's bald head almost like it was meant to be his hair.

"Not a pretty sight, is it?" Dan forced a grimacing smirk onto his face, the tips of his sharpened and slightly elongated canines peeking out like fangs. "You can take it back, if you want. I won't blame you for it."

Anger boiled through him, and Danny snapped. "You really think I'm that shallow and superficial?" he shouted, squeezing Dan's mask in his hand. "I didn't start liking you because of your face. I like you because I like being around you. It's that simple. Yes, your appearance is a major shock, but I'm not going to suddenly hate you because of it. Do you honestly think I'm going to say 'ew! You're ugly, and I don't want anything to do with you' because of some scarring?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of I'm a gross monster," Dan shrugged, "but yeah, I can't say many people have looked at this face and not freaked out."

Danny sighed inwardly as he stepped forward then cupped Dan's face in his hands. "Yes, this is a face that I'll have to get used to. But you're not the only one with scars."

Dan snorted. "What scars do you have? A scratch on your knee from falling off your bike when you were six?"

"No." Danny glared. "Okay. I do, but that wasn't what I meant." He took a deep breath. It was never his plan to show what his ghost form looked like to anyone beyond his friends and parents, but Dan _did_ let him see the real him behind the mask. It seemed only fair to return the favor. As he exhaled, he transformed back to his ghost form. "This is what Phantom really looks like."

When he lifted his gaze, Dan's eyes widened a fraction in surprise. He reached up, his fingers brushing lightly over Danny's cheek, tracing the lines of the Litchtenberg scarring that covered his body in this form. Danny leaned into the touch, waiting for Dan to voice his reaction to seeing Phantom.

"Well, we know who's going to win the beauty contest between us," Dan said with half a smirk. "I bet there's a good story behind this."

"And I'm pretty sure there's a story to be told behind your scars." Danny tried to sound like he was teasing the mercenary. But his heart squeezed as an idea of what happened tickled at his brain. The only people he had seen with skin of such strange coloring were-

"I think we can save those for another time," Dan interrupted the hero's thoughts. "Or perhaps after a little relaxation." He rubbed at his chin with a frown. "What does that make us?" he wondered out loud in a mumble.

"Well," Danny leaned back, pretending to consider the question, "we could go on a date sometime."

With his hand still holding his chin, Dan stared at him like Danny had said something unbelievable. "We could have a movie date night?"

"I think I have some time before I need to be back home," Danny agreed, his heart beating quickly. He had suggested a date, but he hadn't expected one right off the bat. Dan took his hand and pulled Danny out of the bathroom and down the hall toward the front room where they had spent their New Year's Eve together.


	69. Chapter 69

The movie was almost half over. Danny laid on Dan with the mercenary's arms securely wrapped around his waist and a bowl of popcorn resting in his lap. Dan leaned against the armrest of the couch, occasionally pulling an arm away to grab a handful of popcorn to shove into his mouth. This part of the night was rather pleasant, but Danny couldn't fully concentrate on the movie. About thirty-eight minutes into the movie, Danny's brain kept wandering back to Dan's appearance.

"Do they hurt?" Danny questioned during a lull in the movie. "The scars, I mean."

Dan shifted under him, and Danny worried he asked something he shouldn't have. "Sometimes," the mercenary admitted after a brief pause. "Like, I remember exactly what it felt like when it happened."

"You don't have to answer. But," Danny bit his lower lip, "what happened? How did you get them?" He could make guesses about what happened, but only Dan could tell him the truth of how he got the scars.

Dan sighed, moving an arm away to reach up and rub at his neck. "It was during a job. Things were going great. Until they weren't. I didn't get out in time and BOOM!" His arm shot out in front of them, his fingers splaying outward. "I got caught in the explosion of my own bomb. It was a miracle I got out of there without being caught and killed. The pain was excruciating, but I'm pretty sure that was the only thing that told me I was still alive."

Danny shivered, thinking of his own experience with his parents' portal. It was the only experience he had comparable to being caught in an explosion. It wasn't entirely the same, but there were times when Danny could still feel that sensation of being struck over and over by bolts of electricity. Danny stared at the arms around his waist. Dan had removed his gloves to eat so the popcorn butter wouldn't dirty the gloves.

"Was your skin like this after that?" Danny brushed his fingers over the back of Dan's hand. "The whole weird green or whatever color this is skin. And," he waved a hand near his head, "the hair thing."

"That came after."

Danny twisted around to look Dan in the face. "After?" His face scrunched up in confusion. "After what?"

"Now there's the question." Dan frowned, casting his gaze downward. "I don't really remember much of it. I had to go underground to find someone to treat me after the explosion since, you know, I obviously couldn't just walk into a hospital. The doc I found, though, wasn't exactly prepared to deal with someone suffering the amount of damaged skin that I had. She did what she could. Lovely woman. Real nice. Helps out those that can't otherwise afford health care. But anyway," he waved off his rambling, "she did what she could for me. After that, I don't really know. A guy said he might be able to help me, but next all I remember is a lot of pain. I may have blown up another building." He squinted like he was trying to recall the details but they eluded him. "I woke up in some rubble, and well, I looked like this." He spread his arms out wide. "But enough about me. I'd like to know a bit about-"

"Wait. Just one more thing," Danny interrupted, and he winced when he saw Dan frown. "When we first met, I mean, with Cujo and you had your hood up, I couldn't see a lot of your face, but you looked," his mouth pursed, "human." He slapped a hand to his forehead. "Sorry. No. That sounded bad. I didn't mean it like-"

Dan pressed a finger to Danny's mouth to silence him. "It's okay. I'm used to thinking of myself like a monster." He shrugged it off.

"That isn't what I meant at all!" Danny snapped fiercely. "I just meant that this," he picked up Dan's arm, "isn't a naturally occurring skin color."

Dan blinked in surprise. "Ah, well." He ran a hand through his fiery hair, and Danny watched, fascinated by the fact that it didn't burn the mercenary. "It took some time to figure out, but I can appear human for a couple hours."

Dan shifted, much like how Danny did between his human and ghost forms. He looked human, his skin turn perhaps a touch too pale like he didn't spend much time in the sun. Danny was surprised to see Dan had hair, raven locks tied back in a low ponytail. He had mistakenly thought, because of the fiery hair, Dan might be bald in this form. The scars were visible, but they weren't as severe, as if they had healed years ago. After a minute, Dan was back to his ghostly appearance.

"Exhausting, but sometimes I like being able to go out without wearing my costume." Dan nudged Danny with his leg. "Is it your turn now?"

"All right." Danny rolled his eyes. "Only fair that I tell my story too."

"Ah! Only if you want," Dan said hurriedly. "I don't want you to resent me or something for pushing you to tell me about something you'd rather not talk about."

Danny shook his head. "It's fine." He had told the story to his friends and parents, but he still took a deep breath to prepare himself. "It was an accident. My parents kind of invent stuff, and I was looking into one of their inventions. I got trapped inside when it turned on. After being struck a hundreds of times by electricity, I," Danny shrugged, "ended up like this. Though logic says I probably should have died in that accident." It was the short, edited version, but Danny didn't feel like going into full detail about the incident.

"No mutant ghost bite?"

"What would a mutant ghost even be?" Danny laughed, trying to imagine something like that happening. All he could picture was Casper the friendly ghost randomly popping up behind him and biting him on the arm.

Dan shrugged. "It could happen."

Tilting his head, Danny considered how to broach his next topic. The story Dan told about how he came to look the way he did reminded Danny of Ember's tale. "Have," his brow knitted as he stared at the mercenary, "you ever tried flying?"

"Is that an offer?" Dan smirked suggestively.

Danny couldn't help the blush creeping onto his cheeks. He _barely_ kept himself from falling through the couch, like last time. "No." He nudged Dan's ribs with his elbow. "I meant on your own."

"No," Dan replied slowly, dragging the word out as his brow creased. "Why would I try that? I mean, I've jumped out of buildings without thinking, but since I heal fast, I never really thought about flying."

"Right." Danny frowned. It was like Ember all over again. He felt certain Dan was a ghost, and he highly suspected that however he became that way involved the same organization Danny was trying to track down. But from what he said, Dan didn't seem to have any clues about them either. The question now was: Should Danny tell Dan he was a ghost? He didn't know how Dan might react if he learned the truth.

"Why do you ask?" Dan prodded when Danny didn't say anything more.

"Ah, no reason!" Danny laughed awkwardly. "Just thinking flying would have made that whole catching me thing a lot easier." What if Dan turned violent if Danny said he thought the mercenary was a ghost? But maybe it would be better for him to tell Dan the truth. Maybe if he could slowly ease Dan into the fact, things would go smoother. He glanced at the television, the movie having ended and the credits rolling. "So," he thought for a moment about what to call Valerie, "the Huntress told me you ran into each other."

Dan quirked an eyebrow, or what was left of one. "Is that what she's calling herself?"

Danny shrugged. "I have to refer to her by something, right? It seems fitting enough."

Dan barked a laugh and nodded. "Yeah, that does sound like a good name to call her."

The corner of Danny's mouth twitched in a small smile. "Anyway, she told me about you meeting each other and the witness. You're not planning on doing anything unnecessary to get evidence against Walker, are you?"

"Well, torturing him would be fun." Dan grinned despite the glare he received from the young hero. "Kidding!" Then he added quieter, "Maybe."

"Dan," Danny said warningly.

"Okay. Okay." Dan sighed in disappointment. "I did promise no killing. A little maiming is okay, though, right?"

"Dan!"

"Okay!" Dan held up his hands. "But it won't be easy. Unlike you, your Huntress friend and I can't sneak around all invisibly."

"Actually," Danny rubbed his hands on his legs, building up his courage, "you might be able to do it." Maybe it was better for the mercenary to remain oblivious of his potential powers. The man was dangerous enough already.

Dan pressed his mouth thin, and his eyes narrowed, looking Danny over like trying to figure out the hero. "What do you mean by that?"

"Ah, well." Danny scratched at his cheek as he glanced away. "It's just - Um-" He winced. "I think you might be a ghost so you should be able to do stuff like I do."

One eyebrow rose then they knitted together as Dan frowned. A number of emotions seemed to flash through his red eyes, though Danny couldn't decipher any of it. He sat there nervously, waiting for Dan to respond. Then laughter rumbled in the mercenary's chest, but there was no humor in it. His head fell back as he laughed at the ceiling, and Danny shrank away, half readying to throw up a shield or fire an energy blast depending on how this went. For all Danny knew, Dan could explode the house at any second.

"A ghost, huh?" Dan held hand over his eyes, his mouth stretching a bit too wide. "Why didn't I see it?"

"It - It's not unheard of for a ghost to not realize the truth," Danny said, though he knew it provided little comfort. "Maybe I'm completely wrong! It's just the story you told and your skin and hair-" Danny shrugged. "It sounds a lot like what's happened to someone else I know. I, uh, never told her that I thought she was a ghost though. The situation already wasn't very good, and I didn't want things to escalate if she took it badly." He lowered gaze. "I wasn't sure if I should tell you, but I thought you deserved to know."

"Bastard!"

Danny jolted at the outburst. "I didn't-"

"Not you." Dan sighed as he pulled his hand away from his eyes. He sat up, and Danny shifted to sit up too. "I mean that jerk who did this to me. I thought it was just some weird side effect of whatever was done to me. The healing thing was great! I could get shot or limbs cut off or blown up or jump out of fifty story buildings without caring because I just healed up afterward. I never consider it was because I was already dead."

When Dan clenched his fists, Danny hesitantly reached over and placed a hand over one fist. "It's not easy to find out about. When I learned my powers came from being half ghost, it was a big shock." In retrospect, he realized it sounded like the obvious answer, but sometimes the obvious is easily overlooked. "It doesn't mean - It doesn't change-"

Dan removed his hand from Danny's hold. Then he dropped the hand on top of the young hero's head. They sat like that for a while, Dan's fingers threading through Danny's hair. "I suppose learning invisibility would be a big help in keeping tabs on Walker." The small curling smirk suggested he could think of a few other reasons invisibility would be handy.

Danny nodded but paused when a thought occurred to him. "How did that Guys in White agent shoot me?" He frowned as he rubbed his injured shoulder. "I was invisible at the time. He shouldn't have been able to see me."

"You weren't invisible." Dan laughed when Danny shot him a confused look. "I was going to call out to you when I saw you suddenly appear, but then you got shot."

"Oh." Danny's stomach dropped with a touch of dread. He had let his mind wander and dropped his guard. A single moment nearly caused him to be caught by the Guys in White. When he was out as Phantom, he needed to remember not to let himself be distracted. "I'll work on not letting that happen again."

"Good." Dan patted Danny's head. Then his hand moved to cup Danny's cheek, and he held the hero's gaze. "It worries me when I see you getting hurt."

Danny swallowed, his face slowly burning with a blush. He could feel his body shifting, turning invisible, but he caught himself before his whole body could disappear. "You really are the cheese king, aren't you?" He rolled his eyes, trying to shrug off his embarrassment.

Dan cracked a grin. "Of course!"

Danny was learning Dan was many things besides a killer for hire. Cheesy romantic was apparently on the list, but it made him smile. "Um, are you okay? I mean, about the ghost thing."

Dan's expression changed subtly, a flash of bewilderment passing through his eyes like he couldn't believe Danny might be worried about _him_. "Pfft! A little thing like that won't get me down."

Despite the confident smile, Danny didn't buy it. Being told he was a ghost wasn't something to just brush off, but Danny decided not to push the mercenary. Dan might prefer to figure out how he felt about it and how to deal with it by himself. Danny rubbed at his arm in the silence that followed. His gaze drifted back to the television where the screen had gone back to the title screen after the credits finished. Then he glanced at the time on the clock below the television.

"It's getting late," Danny announced, the corners of his mouth pulling down. "I should probably be going."

"Oh." Dan shifted next to the hero, his disappointment clear in his tone.

Danny winced. "I'd stay longer," he assured Dan, "but my parents are at home waiting for me." He stared at his hands, picking at the skin around a thumbnail. "They worry about me. This, being Phantom, is probably the last thing they want for me. I can't make them worry about me all night." He stood up, preparing to leave when Dan did the same. Then the mercenary's large hands were cupping his face, and Dan's lips were pressed against his. Danny stood stunned for about two seconds before he kissed back, gripping the front of Dan's suit as he leaned into the kiss. It was odd, the scarring of Dan's lips, but in no way unpleasant. It ended all too soon, and Danny nearly stumbled forward when the mercenary broke the kiss.

"Be careful on your way home," Dan said, their mouths still close.

The words didn't register at first as Danny stared in a daze into Dan's eyes. Then he shook himself, remembering he needed to get home. "Right!" He backed up a step, one foot slipping part way through the floor before he recovered. "Home." He almost regretted having to go home after a kiss like that. Biting his lip, he grinned. "We'll have to do this again."

"Does fighting crime count as a date?" Dan wondered, returning the grin.

"Normally I would say no, but since we do tend to spend most of our time together doing that, I might say yes." Danny grabbed his gloves from where he left them. After they shared a quick goodbye kiss, he left the safe house invisibly to fly home.


	70. Chapter 70

Cujo barking excitedly greeted Danny when he arrived home. He turned visible once he was safely in his room, and the puppy jumped off his bed to come and dance at his feet. With a chuckle, Danny bent down to pat Cujo on the head before he walked toward his closet. After peeling off his suit, he sighed at the hole in the shoulder still caked in some of his ectoplasm. Tucker wasn't going to be happy when Danny told him the suit needed to be fixed again. Maybe it was time he learned to sew his own suit so he didn't have to keep bothering Tucker with it.

Danny pulled on some pajamas, his worn out NASA shirt and star patterned sweatpants, which were a little long on him. Walking to the door of his room, he whistled, and Cujo came running after him. They headed downstairs, the puppy eagerly racing toward the backdoor. Danny strolled into the kitchen but paused when he found his parents staring at him.

"Um," Danny said hesitantly, shifting where he stood.

"How was patrol?" his mother asked before taking a sip from her coffee mug.

Danny shrugged. "It was all right. Caught some criminals. The usual." His parents worried about him, and he didn't want to add to it by telling them about his encounter with an agent of the Guys in White. As for Dan, Danny didn't want to go blabbing his love life to his parents. At least, not yet.

His father nodded, but Danny thought perhaps his parents had something else on their minds. "We were going over the information you gathered, and we were hoping you could give us a description for these two men."

Danny walked over to the table to look at the paper his father held in his hand. It was the note he included about his encounter with that Skulker guy and the mustached man who lured him into their trap. He winced at the memory. He needed to work on his skills of not being caught off guard or rushing into a possible trap.

"Uh, yeah," Danny said, handing the note back to his father. "I can try drawing them if that helps. I was going to take Cujo out for the night though."

His mother shook her head. "It doesn't have to be right this second."

"So have you figured out any clues?" Danny asked, hoping his parents might have caught something he overlooked.

His mother frowned as her finger tapped on the rim of her mug. "Right now, we think our best bet is finding those two. They set a trap to lure out Phantom. There has to be a reason for that."

Danny agreed, but since that encounter, he hadn't come across the mustached man or Skulker again. He didn't like them being quiet. What were they planning? It sounded like they wanted to get Phantom out of their way. But then why did they disappear again? If they wanted to get rid of Phantom, why hadn't they attacked again? Danny chewed on his lip as he mulled it over, failing to find answers to his questions. A whine and scratching at the backdoor interrupted his thoughts.

"I better take him out before he decides to do his business in the house." Danny walked to the backdoor, and as soon as he opened it, Cujo darted outside. Danny stepped outside, shivering in the cold night. He grabbed the doggie bags from where he kept them on the back porch then followed Cujo around the yard to pick up after him. "Come on, Cujo," Danny said, arms hugged around his body as he waited for the puppy to do something other than run around and sniff at the grass.

After a few minutes, Cujo darted toward the fence and barked. Danny groaned as he followed the puppy. It was cold, and Danny wanted to go back inside to get ready for bed. He heard something snap, like a twig breaking, and immediately tensed. His ghost sense didn't go off, however, leaving him confused but alert.

"Who's there?" Danny demanded as fingers tingled with gathering energy.

"Your dog sure barks a lot."

"Dash?" Danny relaxed, letting the power fade as he approached the fence.

"Nice pajamas." Dash snorted.

Danny bristled, flustered and his face growing red. Then he narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

The jock stepped into the glow of light provided from the kitchen window. Dash looked away as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I was just - No, forget it." He turned to leave.

"Dash, whatever it is," Danny shrugged, "I'll listen."

Dash stared at him, his mouth pressing into an unpleasant line. Then he sighed and walked up to the fence. "Look. Don't get me wrong. I'm very grateful for all the help your sister gave me with studying. She's-" He grimaced. "She was very smart. But her notes tended to be, uh, brainy. I couldn't always follow them. But the notes you made for me-" He looked away, his cheeks turning a rosy pink. "I could follow your notes and understand them."

Danny lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh? Um..."

"I mean, Star and Paulina have been trying to help with studying," Dash said before Danny could think of a response. "And that's... great. I'm just - I'm still having a difficult time with it."

"Dash," Danny bit back the urge to chuckle, "if you want, I can make copy of my notes from class for you. It's no trouble at all. It's okay to ask for help."

"I know that," Dash spat out, and Danny jerked back at the anger in his voice. He grumbled to himself, raking a hand through his blond hair. "And I want to do well in school. And I want to get out of here and go to a good college to get a good job. I even talked to that counselor before she just up and left. I guess that should be a good clue that she sucks at her job."

"Well, yeah," Danny agreed. "What did she tell you?" He frowned, remembering how things went with Tucker and Paulina's reaction after she had spoken to Ms. Spectra.

Dash shrugged, folding his arms. "Just, you know, this right now is the peak of my life, and it's all downhill from here. I'll be lucky if I can even get a job at a gas station."

"That's not true. You can't listen to anything she said." Even when she was gone, Ms. Spectra was still stirring up trouble. "Ms. Spectra doesn't pass out advice. She figures out whatever you're most insecure about and picks at it to make you feel even worse." Danny couldn't break his confidence with Paulina. He wasn't about to out her asexuality to someone without her consent. Tucker was his friend though, so Danny didn't want use him as an example either. "She kept trying to get me in her office to talk about Jazz. I have no doubts that she wanted to focus on my grieving and make it worse rather than better."

"Yeah, Valerie kept away from Ms. Spectra. She said the woman gave her a bad vibe." Dash sighed, dropping his gaze as he dug at the ground with the toe of his shoe. "But sometimes, you want to talk to someone about something you're not sure you can talk about with a friend."

Danny nodded. "I can understand. But please don't believe anything Ms. Spectra told you. None of it was true, and you can make something of yourself if you put in the effort."

"Why do you think I came here?" Dash scowled.

"Honestly, I'm shocked," Danny replied, flustered. "Though, you didn't really have to lurk around my house if you wanted my help."

"I wasn't lurking." Dash huffed, holding his head up. "I _was_ going to knock on the door."

Danny's mouth twitched, not quite managing to keep from smiling. "I'll get my notes copied for tomorrow. But," he held up a finger, "if I see you just sleeping in class, I'm not going to copy my notes for you anymore. No matter how much you bully me."

"I'm not going to sleep in class!" Dash glared, his mouth pressing thin.

"Right. Sorry." Danny held up his hands. "I just wanted it out there so there are no misunderstandings."

Dash hesitated before he nodded. "Yeah, okay. I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow." He turned but stopped halfway and glanced back at Danny. "You know, you've changed. You're more," his face screwed up in thought as he looked up at the night sky, "confident, I guess."

Danny laughed. "I hardly feel confident."

Dash shrugged, trying to appear indifferent. "Maybe it's just something you can't see for yourself." He tossed Danny a wave then shoved his hands into his jacket pockets as he walked away from the house.

Danny watched after the jock for a few minutes, hoping Dash made it home all right with the curfew still in effect. Then he turned his attention back to the puppy sitting beside him. "Okay, Cujo. No more playing. Go do your business."

After Cujo finally finished his nightly business, Danny dumped the doggie bag into the outside trash bin. Then they both headed back into the house. Danny said goodnight to his parents as he passed through the kitchen, promising he would get the sketches to them as soon as possible. Once he finished washing his face and brushing his teeth, Danny walked into his bedroom and let out a sigh. He tiredly dropped into the chair at his desk to make copies of his notes for Dash, simply scanning his notes into his computer then printing them. Then he got to work sketching out what the mustached man and Skulker looked like for his parents. Sometime past midnight, Danny finally put down his pencil and crawled into bed, shutting off the lights. Cujo jumped onto the bed and curled up at his feet.

\----

He sat on the couch in the front room. Static played on the television before him, and the glare harsh in the dark room. He reached up and rubbed the heels of his palms against his eyes. Why was he still up when it was so late? He had school in the morning, and he didn't want to get in trouble by falling asleep in class. He hadn't allowed that to happen since freshman year, after Lancer pulled him aside to speak with him and encourage him to try harder in his school work.

He moved to get up, but an arm stopped him. It wrapped around his waist and pulled him back against a hard chest. He gulped nervously, his mind spinning in confusion. Who was this? What was going on? He blinked, glancing around the room. In the glow from the television, he could make out everything in the room, but it didn't belong to his house. Where was he? Panic set in when he realized he didn't recognize this room at all. His heart beat erratically in his chest as the person shifted behind him. Then lips pressed against the side of his neck, and his entire body tensed at the unasked for attention. The person pulled back.

"You're tense."

Danny twisted around sharply, his eyes growing wide as he stared at the man. "D-Dan?" His head was dizzy. Why was Dan here? And where exactly was here?

Dan chuckled, amusement in his red eyes. "Who did you think I was?"

"I-" Danny shook his head, still muddled with confusion. "I don't know." He rubbed at his head but couldn't make much sense of anything.

Dan frowned, the amusement fading. "Maybe you've been working too hard. You've had a stressful few weeks at work, and our night time activity hasn't all been fun."

"Work?" What was that all about? He hadn't even graduated high school yet!

Dan's brow knitted, and his expression became more serious. "You are definitely cashing in on those vacation days and we are taking a break from catching criminals. Valerie can handle it without us for a while. We're just going to kick back and relax and de-stress."

Danny jerked his head up. "Wait. Valerie? You know Valerie?"

"Yeah?" Dan looked more worried. "We've only been crime fighting with her for the past ten years. Did that last guy hit your head too hard? Maybe we should get that doctor friend of yours to check you out."

"No, no, no! This is - How can we - I don't-" Danny raked his hands through his head. How was it ten years into the future? He and Dan were living happily together? Everything sounded perfect. Way too perfect. This couldn't be real life. It was just too good to be true.

Something splashed against his hand, cold liquid against his skin. Danny lowered his gaze, his brow furrowing at the dark substance sprinkled with tiny lights making him think of the night sky. Dan was saying something about making a late night snack for them, but Danny tuned him out as he focused on the liquid. He turned his hand, watching as the dark liquid spread across the back of his hand. What was this? He tilted his head up, thinking perhaps the ceiling had a leak. Above him, the same dark liquid covered the ceiling, sparkling with hundreds of little stars. A hand reached through it, stretching down toward him like out of some horror movie where the protagonist saw hands and faces pushing out of a wall.

Danny scrambled away to avoid the reaching hand. He stumbled over the coffee table and banged into the television. Shrieking filling the room. Danny clapped his hands over his ears though it did little to block out the awful, high pitched noise. It felt like the sound was trying to drill straight into his brain. He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew he couldn't stand around there. He needed to get out before the shrieking made his ears bleed. His eyes darted everywhere, seeking a way out, but the darkness dripped down the walls and the hand grabbed at air, seeking anything tangible.

A rectangle of light shone from the kitchen. Dan! Dan said he was making a snack. But how could he not hear this awful sound? Why didn't he come running into the room the moment the shrieking started?

Something brushed against his back. Danny bolted toward the kitchen door. Just as he reached it, something grabbed at his arm, holding tight around his wrist. He caught the doorframe, keeping whatever it was from yanking him back into the front room. The grip tightened, crushing the bones of his wrist. Danny gritted his teeth, trying to pry his arm free.

Then he remembered his ghost powers and wanted to smack himself in the forehead for forgetting. Danny turned intangible and phased his arm free, darting into the kitchen before it could grab him again. Everything in the kitchen was white, blindingly white. He squinted as he walked farther into the room. Where the front room was filled with painful shrieking, the kitchen was deafeningly silent. Dan was nowhere.

Danny licked his lips nervously. None of this was making any sense. Twisting around, he faced the door back into the front room. The door was gone, replaced by a white tiled wall. Danny backed away a few steps, his panic rising. Then rope wrapped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides. A sharp yank on the rope jerked him back, and he hit the floor hard, gasping as the shock winded him.

"Let's get to work," someone announced. Danny's eyes widened as he stared at the man looming over him. Officer Walker wore a cruel, vicious grin, his eyes gleaming in triumph.

\----

Danny choked on a shout, his eyes snapping open. He was back in his bedroom, laying on the floor with one leg phased through his bed. Staying as he was, he stared up at the ceiling. His breath was shaky. His whole body trembled at the memory of the dream. After several minutes, he finally picked himself up from the floor. He rubbed his hands over his face, exhausted but afraid to try to sleep in case he had another strange dream. When he pulled his hands away, he froze. Bruising wrapped around his left wrist, but what worried him about the bruising was it looked like a handprint.


	71. Chapter 71

Danny rubbed at his wrist as he walked down the hall to his locker. The bruising had faded by morning, but he could still remember the tight grip around his wrist, squeezing, crushing his bones like they were being ground into dust. Nightmares weren't unusual for him, but this one seemed different. It felt real. It had left a physical impression on him. It scared him.

"Hey, you okay?" Tucker asked, falling into step with his friend when they met up in the hall.

Danny jumped, his heart nearly beating out of his chest. He had focused so much on his thoughts he ignored his surroundings. Placing a hand to his chest, he released his breath as his heart slowed to a normal rate. "Yeah, I'm-" He cringed away when he noticed the glare his friend shot him. "I think it's fine. It was just a nightmare." Danny shrugged it off. "I get them all the time. Ever since, you know." He raked a hand through his hair. "But this one kind of freaked me out because when I woke, I had this handprint bruising around my wrist."

Tucker's eyebrows lifted as he listened. "I may not be an expert in ghost stuff, but that doesn't sound like normal nightmare stuff if you're being affected in real life too."

Danny groaned, his shoulders drooping. "I really don't want this to have anything to do with ghosts. Can't they respect that I need to sleep?"

With a sympathetic frown, Tucker patted him on the shoulder. "Do you want to talk about the dream at all?"

"Do I want to know about this dream?"

Danny looked over to see Sam leaning against the lockers as she waited for them. "Just a nightmare." He shook his head as he opened his locker to grab a book.

"A nightmare that left a physical mark on him," Tucker added.

"What?" Sam demanded, pushing away from the locker with alarm in her violet eyes.

"It faded away." Danny lifted his arm and turned it to show her no bruising remained. "So it's fine."

"What if it's a new enemy?" Sam questioned.

"Now that's scary!" Tucker's eyes widened, and he shuddered at the thought. "I don't want a ghost messing around in my dreams. What do you think it wants?"

"I'm guessing it's not to give everyone nice dreams." Danny shoved his book into his bag. "It's never that simple, is it?" His mouth pursed in thought. Maybe if he could talk to this ghost, if it was in fact a ghost, he could figure out a way to deal with it that didn't involve having to fight. Maybe if Danny had done that from the start with Johnny and Kitty, Mr. Gray wouldn't have ended up in the hospital. He shook his head. He couldn't think like that. He couldn't play the 'if' game. He needed to focus on what he could do to make things right.

"Well," Sam shrugged, though her expression was anything but confident, "there's always a possibility."

"Yeah, because what doesn't say I'm just a friendly ghost than nightmares and leaving bruising on a person when they wake up?" Tucker asked with a tinge of anger lining his voice. "What?" he snapped when his friends stared at him. "You have a ghost possess you and see if you like the idea of a ghost messing around with your dreams!"

Danny placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm not going to let any other ghost mess with you like that ever again."

After a moment, Tucker let a small smile slip onto his face. "Thanks."

"Oh yeah!" Danny winced. "I have a small," he squeezed thumb and forefinger together, "patch job I need you to do on the suit."

"Did something happen last night?" Both of his friends immediately became alarmed, worry flashing through their eyes.

"Um," Danny hesitated, glancing away. Then with a sigh, he knew he needed to be honest with his friends. He couldn't keep secrets from them about his activities as Phantom. Hiding things would only make them worry more about him. "I," he rubbed at the back of his neck, his gaze lowered, "had an accident with this Guys in White agent. He shot me in the shoulder, and it messed with my powers. But Dan was luckily there to save me."

"Danny," Sam said with a touch of warning in her voice and panic in her eyes, "you have to take them seriously." She was scared for him.

"I _am_ taking them seriously!" Danny rubbed at his face. The wound to his shoulder had, thankfully, healed by morning. "I was thinking about things. You know, the whole trying to get evidence on Officer Walker thing. And there's also finding the person that killed Jazz. I accidentally let my invisibility slip when an agent happened to be there to spot me. I'm going to be a lot more cautious from now on so it doesn't happen again."

Sam suddenly drew him into a tight hug. "I don't know what we'd do if something happened to you. So please just be careful."

Danny relaxed and returned the hug. "I will. I promise." When Sam released him, he slung his bag over his shoulder. "Who's ready for another fun day at school?" He chuckled when Tucker groaned loudly at the question. The three friends walked down the hall, parting ways when it was time for classes.

Danny entered his first class and dropped into his seat. He would love to be lazy for once and sleep during class, but he refused to let himself fall into that habit. Since freshman year, he had stayed focused in class and worked to keep his grades up. He had people in life who he wanted to make proud, but probably most importantly, he wanted to prove to himself he could be smart like his sister and his parents.

Dash sat down at the desk beside him. His eyes had dark circles under them, and his hair was slightly mussed like he had raked his hand through the slicked back locks more than a few times. Danny never thought much about Dash other than being a bully, but right now, he could practically feel the frustration rolling off the jock. Danny could remember the feeling. Before Lancer encouraged him, Danny stressed out about his grades, getting fed up and giving up when he couldn't understand it. Diving into video games and immersing himself in a fictional world was easy when he was simply running away from school work.

"Hey," Danny mumbled quietly as he dug around in his bag. When the jock looked at him, Danny handed over the notes he had printed out last night for Dash. He shot a quick glance to the front of the room, but their teacher was busy writing some notes on the board about the day's lesson.

Dash took the notes and glanced them over. Danny bit his lip, almost expecting a sneering response from the jock. Instead, Dash nodded and offered a quick, "Thanks."

Danny shrugged. "No problem. I just hope they help."

"This doesn't make us best friends," Dash muttered, placing the notes into his notebook for safe keeping.

"Of course not. I would never dream of trying to take Kwan's place."

"No one can replace him." A fond smile spread onto Dash's face. "He's great. But his notes for class are written in some code only he knows, and it would take too long having him decipher it for me."

Danny chuckled, mostly because he had seen his sister's notes before and sometimes they were completely unreadable without knowing her coding method. "I didn't agree to give you my notes because I wanted you to like me. I agreed because helping people is the right thing. Education isn't a contest. We should help each other if we can." Danny frowned when he caught Dash wrinkling his nose. "What?"

Dash shook his head. "You sound like Jazz sometimes."

"Oh." Danny lowered his gaze. Dash had truly cared for his sister. Sometimes it was easy for Danny to forget. He had seen Dash flirt with other women in the school, but Dash seemed most sincere about his attentions when it came to Jazz. "I didn't-"

Dash waved off anything Danny was going to say. "I didn't mean it as a bad thing. It's just weird sometimes hearing you say things that I would expect to hear her say."

"If everyone is ready, we can begin," the teacher said, glaring straight at them. Dash and Danny quickly sat up and faced the front of the room, appearing alert and ready for class. The man glared at them for another moment before he began teaching.

\-----

Life seemed to fall into a pattern for him. School took up most of his time. His parents wouldn't allow him to go out patrolling until all his school work was finished. Dinner for them generally involved his parents running through a check list of worried phrases and reminders to keep alert. It could be frustrating, but Danny knew they were only doing it because they cared.

Danny continued to tutor Elle so she could pass her classes for the semester. He doubted she would need his help that much after she switched over to Casper High since her classes wouldn't be as tough as they were at the elite private school. Then he would show up at the Masters' house as Phantom to help Elle learn control of her powers. Elle was having a difficult time of it since she hadn't found a focus, but she could at least keep herself from randomly turning invisible or phasing through the floor. Danny passed his notes to Dash every day, which seemed to improve the jock's mood because he was struggling less to understand the material for class.

Patrolling was slow. Danny sighed as he sat on the ledge of a rooftop, taking a brief break in searching for any criminals. The week had been quiet, and occasionally, Danny would meet up with Valerie to pass on any information. So far, neither of them had come across anything worth mentioning, leaving them with a depressed feeling weighing down on them. Last night, when they met up, they decided to spar on the rooftop since neither had found a criminal to catch. They had to split without determining a winner when Valerie's scanner announced police, and Guys in White, passing too close to the building. Valerie had taken a police scanner from her father's things, and with a little work, she patched it into her suit so she could keep tabs on police movement.

But something was bothering him. Danny stared at his phone, the screen black with no new messages. He hadn't run into Dan since the night the Guys in White agent shot him in the shoulder. The night he confessed his feelings and revealed his identity. Wasn't that supposed to be the start of something between them? But Dan had disappeared afterward. Danny even went back to the safe house, but after waiting for an hour, he gave up to leave for patrolling. No texts came from Dan either. Where did the mercenary go? Danny bit his lip, his heart sinking when he considered the idea of Dan accepting a job outside of Amity Park which required killing someone.

"You're looking down."

Danny tensed when someone spoke up behind him. Then he relaxed, realizing who the speaker was. "Slow night for you too?"

Valerie sighed, walking over to join him on the ledge. "I even tried to watch Walker, but he was being boring and sitting in his office the whole time. So far, he hasn't done anything incriminating that we can nail him on."

"He'll slip up eventually." Danny reached over and patted her on the shoulder, hoping it would offer a small comfort. "We just have to keep watching him."

"I just want to give him a good punch in the face." Valerie smacked a fist into her other hand, and Danny could understand the feeling. Officer Walker was one of the least likeable people in Amity Park.

"I don't think I'd dare to stop you if you ever got the chance." Danny chuckled.

Valerie nudged him with her elbow. "But seriously. Why did you look mopey?"

"Um." Danny rubbed at the back of his neck. It was embarrassing to admit and made him feel a bit clingy to be worrying so much after only a week. "So, say you tell someone you like them and have a pretty nice night with them afterward-"

Valerie interrupted with a whistle. "Things are getting serious with that guy, huh?"

Danny blushed behind his mask. "It, um - I don't know." He sighed heavily, his shoulders drooping. "I haven't seen him since that night. He didn't even respond when I texted him. And, you know, I don't want to seem like some clingy guy that's always demanding to be paid attention to. I just... I would like to at least have a head's up if he's going to disappear for a while."

Valerie punched him on the arm, not hard but it still hurt. "He's dumb if he's going drop you just like that. And," she leaned back on her arms, "I may not know him very well from our brief meet up, but Dan definitely seemed very interested in you. I can't imagine he'd just take off after finding out you like him back. I mean, you guys didn't," she hunched up her shoulders, "you know?"

"What?" Danny's eyes widened as his cheeks burned. "No! All we did was lay on the couch together and watch a movie. We wanted to take it slow." He shrugged a shoulder like it was no big deal.

"That's pretty amazing. I mean, if you did, I might have to have your boyfriend arrested. But I know there are a lot of boys that think they need to be having sex or have this idea that they can't control it." Valerie shook her head.

Danny chuckled. "Well, I mean, it's not like I don't want to do it. I do! Though with Dan, there's an obvious reason for why we have to wait. But," he sighed as he glanced up to the sky, "I also don't want to rush in. I don't want it to be just a physical thing between us. I want that connection that makes a relationship last until we're old and gray." He frowned, realizing Dan technically wouldn't grow old.

"That's super cheesy." Valerie snickered. "But you make me wish I had a guy like you." She sighed, hitting the heel of her boot against the wall. "Though right now, I'm more focused on this whole Walker problem."

"Just don't let it consume you," Danny warned. "I mean, I really want to catch whoever killed Jazz, but if I put every waking moment into that, I think-" He shook his head. "I know I would end up doing something I regret in the end. I came close to letting the anger drive me to get revenge."

"Danny, I can assure you I'm not going to kill him. As tempting as it might sound. I know. Revenge is bad. I've seen how that goes from some of my dad's cases. Proving that Walker was behind what happened and getting him arrested will be enough satisfaction for me."

"We'll do it." Danny held out a hand, and Valerie grabbed hold of it like they were sealing a promise.


	72. Chapter 72

"Well," Danny said as he glanced over the papers in front of him, "it looks like you got everything right."

Elle's eyes widened at his announcement. "Really?" she gasped in disbelief.

Danny bit back a chuckle. "Yup! I think when finals roll around, you'll be ready for them." He gathered up the papers and straightened them out into a neat stack.

"I hope so." Elle, however, didn't look too confident about passing. "But after that, I get to go to your school and take normal, not super advanced classes."

"Yeah," Danny leaned on the table, "but I guess you won't need me so much then."

Elle stared at him, her eyebrows raising slightly after a few seconds. "What? Do you think I'll stop hanging out with you if you're no longer tutoring me?" With a grin, she nudged his foot under the table. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah." Danny laughed, shaking his head. Why was he getting down over the idea of no longer having to tutor Elle? The money was nice, but it wasn't his only reason for helping her. He liked it. It felt good and maybe made him feel smart. Jazz was the one everyone usually went to when they needed help with homework. Danny never would have imagined anyone would think he was smart enough to help them. It wasn't that he still thought of himself as stupid. It was more thinking he wouldn't be good at teaching people to understand the material. "So how come you wanted to do the study session here?" Danny grabbed a few fries, dipping them into the ketchup before eating them.

Elle shrugged. "I just felt like getting out of the house. I have to be back by seven though. Dinner with my dad. He's really making the effort to talk to me. You know, hear about what I'm interested in doing. He says he still wants to leave the option open for me to take over his company. Way, _way_ down the line."

"It's good to still have a backup plan," Danny said, wiping his hands clean on a napkin. "You can follow your dream, try out some jobs, but if you don't succeed, you'll still have your dad's business as a safety net."

"It is kind of nice." Elle nodded agreement. "Knowing no matter how badly I fail on my own, I'll still have something. But not everyone has that. You know?"

"Maybe that's something else you can look into," Danny suggested. "You can do things to help the less fortunate. Volunteer at soup kitchens or donate food and necessary supplies to the poor." It reminded him a little of Dan and how he used the money from his jobs to help the children at the orphanage.

Elle considered it for a moment then grinned. "Yeah! I could even talk to my dad about setting up some kind of donation thing."

"You should totally do that!" Danny agreed, happy to see Elle excited by the idea.

"So," Elle leaned on the table, her mouth stretching into a wide grin. The light dancing in her eyes made Danny a little nervous. "We're always so busy with you tutoring me that I keep forgetting to ask about it."

"Ask about what?" Danny shifted, his gaze darting around briefly. What could Elle want to ask about? She couldn't possibly have figured out he was Phantom, right? Danny tensed. What if she had? It wouldn't be the first time his identity was puzzled out by someone. Ember and Valerie both figured it out quickly. His palms turned sweaty. What was he going to do if she did figure it out? They were in a public setting! Why would she ask about _that_ here where everyone could overhear them?

"I've heard that you," Elle placed her chin on her laced fingers, still grinning, "have a boyfriend?"

"I'm not-" Danny protested before the question fully registered. He blinked when he replayed the question. "Wait. What? Who told you that?"

"Oh, just something I heard." Elle shrugged with an innocent look.

Danny frowned, but it wasn't like he was hiding it. His friends already knew he liked Dan. His parents - He planned on telling them eventually. "Well," he rubbed at his neck as he looked away, "there is someone."

Elle's eyes grew wide as excitement nearly radiated off her. "You have to tell me all about him!"

"Well," Danny couldn't help the burning in his cheeks, "that's pretty vague. Where do I even start?"

Elle pursed her mouth to the side, looking upward as she considered. "How about how you two met? Oh! What is he like?"

Danny leaned back in the booth. This wasn't the direction he expected their conversation to go. Who even told Elle he had a boyfriend? "Well, it's kind of odd. We, uh, talked on this game before we bumped into each other in real life. But we didn't realize it until just recently that we knew each other in both those ways." He laughed awkwardly as he tugged on his ear.

"Aw!" Elle said, only serving to increase the embarrassment Danny felt. "But that's so cool! How many people have stories like that for how they met the person they're dating?"

"Hm, I guess." Danny never thought about it like that, but it made him smile fondly. "He's, um, older and kind of has that 'don't want to run into him in a dark alley' look to him, but he has a good heart. He cares a lot about people. He even watched after Cujo for me."

"He sounds like a pretty great guy." Elle grinned. "Because if he wasn't, I'd have to kick his butt for you."

"I'll have to pass that along to him," Danny said with a chuckle.

"You better. Because I want him to know there are consequences for hurting my friend."

"Who's hurting Danny?"

"Val!" Elle grinned when she looked up to see the other woman leaning against the booth.

"Uh, hi," Danny said, wondering about Valerie's presence. It was easy talking to the A Lister when they were in costume, like the disguise actually allowed Valerie the freedom to be herself instead of dressing up to impress the popular crowd.

"I hope you don't mind." Elle winced. "I planned to hang out with Val for a bit since I only have so much time before my dad wants me home for dinner."

Danny shook his head. "It's fine. We were done with tutoring anyway."

"Is my question going to be ignored?" Valerie folded her arms, looking mildly annoyed about no one answering her question.

"Ah, Danny was just telling me about his boyfriend." Elle glanced his way with a teasing grin.

Valerie nodded, stealing a glance at Danny. "Well, for his sake, I hope he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Planning on kicking his butt too?" Danny stood, pulling his bag over his shoulder.

Valerie shook her head. "I'm sure Elle can do that just fine without my help."

Danny glanced at Elle. With her new powers, she could certainly do some damage, after she learned to control those powers. On the other hand, Dan knew how to fight and had those same ghostly powers too. Though like Elle, Dan didn't know how to control those powers. In a straight fight, Dan had the advantage.

"Let's just hope there's no need for any butt kicking." Danny grinned. "I'll see you around." He waved as he backed away from the table. The two women waved goodbye, and Danny turned and left the Nasty Burger. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt, he smiled a little as he walked. He was glad to see Elle and Valerie getting along so well. When she finally started attending Casper High, Elle would know more people than just him. It would make the switch a little easier for her.

"Do tell. What has you smiling so?"

Danny jumped, spooked by the sudden question. When he glanced around, he found no one around him on the quiet street. But a rose popped up in front of him. Danny blinked in surprise. Then he shifted his eyes to see the ghostly plane. Dan stood there, grinning under the shadow of his hood as he presented the rose. A flush spread across Danny's face.

"Ah!" Danny gasped when it hit him. "You can turn invisible!"

"It's taken me a while to get the hang of it." Dan reached up with the hand not holding the rose to scratch the back of his head. Perhaps if the mercenary wasn't hiding most of his face, Danny might have spotted a mild blush. He dropped the invisibility, donning his human disguise while he was out of costume.

"That's great!" Danny's excitement was short lived when he spotted a police car down the street. "Come on!" He grabbed hold of Dan's hand, the one with the rose, and pulled the mercenary around the nearest corner. Hopefully, neither of the cops in the car were Guys in White agents, or had seen the floating rose.

"Not that I mind being dragged off by you. But, uh, what's the hurry?"

Danny stopped and glanced behind them. They were now a block away from the prior street, and he saw no signs of the police car trailing them. Releasing a breath of relief, he let go of Dan's hand. "I may have left some things out last time we talked. Some important details."

Dan folded his arms but nodded, as if to tell the younger man to continue.

After taking a deep breath, Danny explained, "Okay. Here's the thing. Ever since Officer Walker took over as temporary Police Chief, he's brought in this organization called the Guys in White. They're like this government run ghost hunting group. Though not all of them are that bright. Like the guy that shot me last time. But I'm not going to take the risk in believing all of them are that incompetent, and Officer Walker is definitely not someone to take lightly. So being a ghost, you should be on alert whenever you see police nearby, in case there's an agent for the Guys in White present. I-" He bit his lip, looking away. "I hate thinking about them capturing you." He raked a hand through his hair, because he had imagined plenty of times in his dreams the sort of things people like the Guys in White would do to him. "If they hurt you, I don't know what I might do."

Dan held the young hero's face in his hands. "Breathe," he said soothingly as the panic rose in Danny. "There is no way I'm gonna let a bunch a boneheads with a stupid name get me." His mouth cut into a confident smirk. "They'll be sorry if they even try to capture me."

"No killing!" Danny snapped, the kneejerk response dispelling the panic as he glared sharply at the mercenary.

"You'd be surprised what a person can live through." Dan's smirk widened, showing off his sharp fangs.

" _Dan_ ," Danny growled in warning.

The mercenary held up his hands in surrender. "But if they come after me, I _will_ defend myself."

"Please defend yourself in a way that doesn't put twenty officers or agents in the hospital," Danny begged.

Dan sighed in disappointment. "Well, it'll be difficult, but I suppose I could hold back."

"Good." Danny grinned, though he still worried about the Guys in White finding Dan. Ember, Johnny, and Kitty had at least left town after stirring up trouble. Ghosts that mostly stayed on the invisible plane, like Clockwork and his assistant Quinn, didn't seem to have to worry about drawing the attention of the Guys in White. As far as Danny knew, the organization lacked an invention that could detect ghosts the way his parents could. He hoped it stayed that way.

"Now." Dan clapped his hands together. "Are you ready for our date?"

"You know, you could have texted." Danny frowned severely, even though he felt a thrill go through him. A real date? He wasn't even prepared! He probably looked terrible!

"That would have ruined the surprise." 

Danny frowned. "I don't want to be some clingy boyfriend or something, but I was worried when I didn't hear from you." His heart beat a touch faster. Would the mercenary laugh at him for saying something like that? Did it make him sound weak and pathetic to admit it out loud?

Dan stared silently at him for a long moment. Then he turned away, reaching up to scratch the back of his head. He mumbled something under his breath, which sounded something like, "Not used to people worrying so much." His hand dropped away, slapping against his side. "I wanted to figure out this whole ghost thing. It took longer than I expected to get the hang of it."

Danny nodded, wondering what the mercenary used as a focus. Elle still struggled to master her new abilities, lacking an obsession, but Dan had managed to learn invisibility within a week.

"Well," Danny said as he turned to walk down the street, "I suppose I could forgive you. But I hope you have a good idea for this date." He bit back a grin when he heard Dan scrambling to catch up with him. "Any hints about this date?"

Dan tilted his head to stare at the sky. "Hm. It's still a bit early." He dropped his gaze and looked over to Danny. "We could see if there are some baddies that need a butt whooping."

Danny rolled his eyes. "It's too early for that." Though if they came across someone who needed help, he wouldn't say no to kicking a little butt.

"Then we can just walk around and see if anything pops up." Dan took hold of Danny's hand, lacing their fingers together.

Danny bit his lower lip, thinking, as Dan pulled him along. "You didn't take any new jobs since we last saw each other?"

Dan glanced out the corner of his eye then snapped his gaze forward again. "A couple simple jobs. No killing necessary. Though I spent most of the time training."

A little relief washed over Danny. "And the whole ghost thing? You're okay with that?"

"Of course!" Dan let out a hearty laugh, but Danny couldn't help wondering if the mercenary might be over compensating to hide the truth. But Dan turned a grin to him. "We've talked a lot about my whole tragic past. Tell me some more about yourself."

"Oh, um." Danny searched his brain for where to even start. "Tell me about yourself" was such a vague request. "Well, I guess since you talked about your family, I can start there. Um, well, my parents are great. You can't listen to the people that say anything else. They spend a lot of time in the basement, working on stuff. But they would always make time when my sister and I needed them. They would help me with my homework when I was little. My mom would always take math because my dad sometimes made mistakes there."

Danny smiled fondly, remembering those nights when he was younger and sat at the kitchen table surrounded by his family. After he and Jazz got older, the whole homework night slowly came to an end as they focused on doing their homework on their own, or with friends.

"I was never as smart as my sister or parents, but they never treated me like I was stupid. My sister would ace her tests while I would just get C pluses. My parents would still put my tests up on the fridge door and tell me I did a good job." It didn't stop him from feeling inferior to his family. "When I got interested in space, my parents got me books about it. I got to go to space camp. They got me those glow-in-the-dark stickers. I put them on the ceiling in patterns of constellations. Most of them have come off, but a few are still up there. We would sit outside at night, sometimes with a cup of hot cocoa, and my parents would point at constellations and ask me what they were named."

Jazz would join them, sitting slightly apart from their little huddle while she had her nose buried in a book. They were good memories, bringing a warm feeling whenever he thought of them.

"But when I was younger, I would hear some of the other parents talking about how neglectful my parents were and how sorry they felt for me and my sister. I always hated hearing it." He had cried a few times, the first couple of times he overheard such comments, but Jazz would wipe his snotty nose and tell him not to mind what those people said. "But they never saw those moments with my parents. They only made judgment calls based on the surface without looking deeper. My parents might get obsessed with their work at times, but they were never neglectful."

"They sound like pretty good people." Dan tugged Danny a step closer as the corner of his mouth curled upward. "When do I get to meet them?"

"Uh," Danny laughed awkwardly, "isn't meeting the parents something you do when you're a little further into the relationship?"

Dan tilted his head to consider it. "Hm. I suppose that's true. No point in freaking them out this soon."

"You won't freak them out," Danny argued earnestly.

Dan reached up with his free hand and snaked it around to the back of Danny's neck. He leaned in, their mouths touching in a brief kiss. "You're so cute." Ignoring the bright blush on the young hero's face, Dan grinned as he led the way down the street.


	73. Chapter 73

Danny released a happy sigh when he returned home after his date with Dan. They had walked around town for a while, simply talking. Danny was wary anytime he spotted a patrol car passing them, but much to his relief, the police gave them no notice. Perhaps he was worrying too much after realizing Dan was a ghost, but he wanted the mercenary to be safe from the Guys in White. No crimes popped up as they walked, which left Dan disappointed.

Once night fell, Dan dragged Danny off to a secluded part of the park. Far off the usual path, a giant willow tree stood in the middle of a small clearing from the rest of the surrounding trees. The draping branches provided a thick curtain, keeping anyone who sneaked inside it well hidden.

"Why are we here?" Danny asked when Dan dragged him to the tree.

"This curfew thing messed with my plans," Dan grumbled. He stopped once they were at the base of the tree and gestured for Danny to sit. "They usually have a movie night in the park. There's that building with the big white side they use to show the film. But since that stupid curfew is in place, I was afraid that idea was out. Then," he held a finger with a grin, "I got an idea."

He grabbed something from the other side of the tree then joined Danny, sitting and leaning against the tree. He brought a picnic basket, with a plaid patterned blanket which he draped over them so they could bundle up together and stay warm. With his tablet, they were able to watch a preloaded movie, after debating which one to watch. It might not be as comfortable as laying on a couch, but Danny still enjoyed the idea. He almost wished they had a nice cackling fire to help keep them warm while they enjoyed their movie and a picnic. It was a simple date idea, but with all the fighting they did, a quiet evening just relaxing was great in his opinion.

"I'm home," Danny called when he entered the house.

"We're in the kitchen," his mother answered.

Danny dropped his bag by the stairs then headed down the hall to the kitchen. He stretched his arms over his head, arching his back, which felt a little stiff after leaning against the tree for so long. When he entered the kitchen, he halted, his gaze landing immediately on the bandage around his father's head.

"What happened?" he shouted, concerned and panicked.

"Oh, this?" His father chuckled as he pointed to the bandages. "This is nothing. Just a scratch from a tiger." He sounded awfully jolly for someone who apparently had an encounter with a dangerous animal.

"What?" Danny's voice rose an octave, and his eyes widened. His father's words didn't comfort him at all.

"We were searching for those two men," his mother explained and calmly sipped from her cup of coffee. "You know, the ones we asked you to draw."

"And we found them!" His father grinned triumphantly.

"You did?" Danny stumbled over to the table, his head spinning with this information. "Did you find out anything?" His heart pounded in his chest, but he feared he was hoping for too much after all this time.

"We're," his father's expression fell, "still working on that."

"They managed to get away." His mother sighed. "That one with the ridiculous green Mohawk is pretty strong." Her mouth pursed, and her eyes were troubled.

"It wasn't exactly a heroic fight." His father grimaced, and a flush of color spotted his cheeks. "But we escaped with something that might be important."

His father spread out a small roll of paper Danny hadn't noticed when he entered the kitchen. The paper was faded yellow, like it came from a book created centuries ago. Danny leaned in closer for a better look at the writing, but he couldn't make out any of the symbols. But the paper was only about half its original size. The top edging was jagged like someone ripped it apart. In the center, he could make out a drawing of what might have been a bottle with a rounded base, but only a small portion of the bottom of the drawing was on this part of the paper.

"What is this exactly?" Danny's brow wrinkled as he lifted his questioning gaze to his parents.

"We're not quite sure," his father admitted. "Ancient languages aren't exactly our strong suit."

His mother nodded in grim agreement. "We'll have to research it before we know anything for certain. From what we overheard of the conversation, they needed this paper, but they haven't figured out what it says yet."

"We hoped to grab the whole thing," his father sighed, hanging his head, "to keep them from discovering whatever secrets this text holds. But hopefully just this much will be enough to keep them stumped for a while longer."

Danny nodded. It might not be much, but it was far more than they had before. A small smile tugged across his face. He was thankful to have his parents helping him track down answers. He felt like he could actually get somewhere with his parents and friends to aid him.

"Well, I'll leave this to you then." Danny held a hand over his mouth as he yawned widely. "I should get some sleep. Another big day of school tomorrow," he added with only a faint hint of false enthusiasm. He might like school more than he used to, but he was still a teenager. Sometimes, he contemplated the idea of ditching school and lazing around for a day. He never did, though, too determined to prove he could be smart and get good grades.

His mother got up and kissed him on the temple. "Sleep well."

"We can't promise to know anything new by morning, but we'll try our best to figure out something about this," his father said with a hand splayed over the torn paper.

"Don't stay up too late working on it," Danny advised. He wanted answers. But rushing wouldn't give them those answers. Rushing would cause them to overlook details, perhaps important clues. He would rather they take their time and go over everything with immense scrutiny so they wouldn't miss something.

With their usual goodnights said, Danny climbed the stairs and walked into the bathroom to prepare for bed. After teeth were brushed and face was washed, he walked to his room, where Cujo was already sleeping peacefully on his bed and drooling on his little plush chew toy from Dan. His mouth twitched when he saw it. Part of him still found it mind blowing that he had met Dan three different ways and neither of them realized who the other was. Shaking his head, Danny changed into his pajamas. After flipping off the lights, he climbed into bed. Cujo whined, his legs twitching in his sleep. Danny's head hit the pillow, and he stared up at the ceiling, spotting the few glow-in-the-dark star stickers stuck there. His eyes drooped shut after some time, and he drifted off to sleep.

\-----

Danny jumped to his feet, his eyes sweeping around the room only familiar to him in his dreams. Once again, the lights were turned off, but the room wasn't completely dark. Light shown from the open doorway to the kitchen, where he could smell something cooking. His stomach growled, even though he knew this was only a dream.

"Okay, Danny," he mumbled to himself, swallowing nervously. "There's nothing to be scared of."

The snowy static of the television, however, had that horror movie vibe to it in his opinion. The way it occasionally flickered with faint images unnerved him. He spotted his sister just after she was shot, and he felt a painful pinch in his chest. He saw his body being zapped in his parents' portal and flinched, recalling the agony of that experience. Other images appeared from his nightmares. His parents standing over him, ready to dissect his ghostly half. He hadn't had that particular nightmare for some time, since he learned his parents would never go all mad scientist on him, or any ghost. He saw new terrifying pictures on the screen too, like his friends' broken and battered bodies lying in the destruction of a building.

He finally tore his gaze away from the television when he saw a flash of Dan speared through the chest. Even knowing Dan was a ghost, the sight was too hard for him to see. His throat constricted, and he pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. Being a ghost didn't make them completely invincible. He would bet the Guys in White could think of a few ways eradicate a ghost. If not, they would detain and torture the ghost. They were more of the shoot first and ask questions never variety. Not like his parents who were more interested in researching about ghosts. Their inventions were only for protection against violent and unreasonable ghosts.

Danny put the horrifying images from the television out of his mind, thankful the awful shrieking hadn't filled the room, yet. Tilting his head upward, he frowned at the inky ceiling spotted like the night sky. It shifted like a water, but over his head, the hand stretched out and groped around like it was seeking something. Danny held his breath, his heart beating faster while his stomach lurched. Was this a ghost? Why was it in his dreams? What did it want? Was it a good ghost? Or did it have some kind of nefarious plan in mind? There was only one way to get answers: to ask for them.

"Who are you?" Danny demanded once he could push past the lump in his throat. "What do you want?"

The ceiling quivered, and the hand clawed at him. Danny's mouth pressed into a line. Of course he wouldn't get an answer! The thing was just some inky mass with a hand. There was no mouth that he could see. How could it talk to him?

"Okay," Danny said, folding his arms. "You can't speak. But there must be some other way you can communicate with me. You obviously have some reason for contacting me." He was, of course, assuming the ghost, if it was a ghost, meant to contact him.

The hand stilled, and Danny wondered if it would give him some kind of hint about this whole thing. Then the hand pointed toward the television. Frowning, Danny turned to stare at the static on the screen. It flicked to a sharp, black and white image of a balding man gripping the bars of a prison cell.

"Okay," Danny said slowly as his brow knitted. "So a prison? I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get from that. Are you in prison?"

"That's correct!" a game show host shouted, causing Danny to jump in surprise.

Danny pressed a hand to his chest, trying to calm his racing heart. "So next question: Who are you? Are you a ghost?"

"We have a bingo!" announced another game show host.

_A trapped ghost? Great_. Danny rubbed at his forehead. "And you want me to free you? How do I do that? And why would I? Maybe you were imprisoned for a reason. Maybe you're an evil ghost."

A cartoon image appeared on the screen: a furious anthropomorphic cat jumping up and down, waving its hands. Its face was bright red, and a vein popped on its forehead. The ghost apparently didn't like being thought of as evil.

"Okay. Okay!" Danny held up his hands. "I've encountered some ghosts before, and not all of them had a great start. We talked things out and they were okay afterward, but they could have easily gone differently. I'm just trying to be cautious." He sat down, perching on the edge of the coffee table. "I can be a trusting person, but I know being trusting can bite me in the butt. So I'm sorry if I offended you by thinking you could be an evil ghost, but I'm just trying to keep myself and this town safe."

Danny scratched a hand through his hair, thinking of what he could ask the ghost next. It wasn't exactly easy talking to a ghost who could only communicate through images on a television screen.

"Why are you contacting me? How long have you been trapped? I'm not even sure how I can help you." Danny didn't even know if he could trust this ghost.

The television showed an image of a little girl twitching in bed like she were suffering from a nightmare. Then it flipped to a man behind a plate of glass and banging on it. Danny furrowed his brow as he considered those images.

"I'm not really sure what to make of that." He rubbed tiredly at his eyes. "Let's do it this way. What's the most important thing you can tell me?"

A cartoony jagged speech bubble appeared on the screen in yellow with "DANGER" written in big, bolded red lettering. Then it switched to the image of the world as if looking at it from the moon. When the Earth suddenly exploded, Danny jerked upright in bed, disturbing Cujo, who rolled off the edge of the bed and hit to floor with a heavy thud. The shock of seeing the Earth destroyed had jolted him right of his dream.

Danny laid back in bed, placing a hand over his racing heart. Cujo jumped back onto the bed and flopped right over Danny's legs like he was trying to punish his owner for startling him like that. Danny's mouth twitched, a chuckle escaping him. Then he sighed as he stared at the ceiling, almost expecting it to be covered with that starry ink. Did the ghost mean that literally? Did it think the Earth was going to explode somehow? Danny shook his head. That couldn't be possible. But the ghost obviously thought something was threatening the Earth. Now it was up to Danny to figure out what and how to stop it. For all he knew, the threat could happen tomorrow! If only he could have spoken to the ghost directly, maybe he could have gotten better answers, ones he could fully understand.

"I'll figure it out tomorrow," he decided. It was still dark outside, giving him a few more hours to sleep. He would solve nothing when he was exhausted and not awake enough to give it the thought it needed. Rolling over, with a struggle as Cujo slept on his legs, he tried to fall back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays, everyone!


	74. Chapter 74

The light of day didn't help provide him with any answers. Danny yawned tiredly as he sat at his desk in his first period. The rest of the night, no dreams came to him, but even without another interruption to his sleep, he still felt exhausted the next day. He wished Mr. Dream Ghost was a little more helpful and a lot less cryptic. Why couldn't answers come easily? Yes, he understood some things in life he had to work hard for, like a good education and eventually getting a good job. But when a ghost invaded his dreams to announce doom to the Earth, he thought that at least deserved to be spelled out in plain letters rather than cryptically addressed with vague images. But the Earth was still here when he woke, and no news reports suggested Earth's destruction in the near future, so he guessed he still had some time to puzzle out the meaning of the ghost's warning.

_It didn't even demand I free it_ , Danny thought as he jotted down notes from the day's lesson. Did it not care about being trapped, wherever it was, so long as the warning reached someone? Maybe it thought being freed wasn't worth it until _after_ the safety of the Earth was ensured. That thought didn't leave Danny with an encouraging feeling. If he had more clues, maybe this task would be easier to accomplish. He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. Everything in his life would be easier right now if he simply had more clues.

Something smacked him on the side of the head, and Danny snapped his head around, shooting a glare at the person next to him. He was not in the mood for any type of harassment. Dash stared back, unfazed by the glare, but his brow knitted and maybe a touch of concerned flashed for a brief second in his blue eyes. Dash mouthed something to him, and it took Danny a moment to put it together:

"What's up with you?"

Danny's brow creased, and he gave a small shake of his head. "What do you mean?" he mouthed back to the jock.

Dash rolled his eyes. "You look like you're about to pass out."

Danny blinked. When did Dash ever care about his health? Then he recalled their recent arrangement and huffed out a sigh. "I'm taking notes." He waved his hand over the notebook page like it proved his point. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hand you half assed notes."

Dash gave him a flat glare as if saying, "Well, duh!" If he wasn't worrying about the notes, then why did he ask? They may have a better relationship now than in the past, but Dash still was no Mr. Saint to the losers. "Forget it," Dash muttered as he returned his attention to their teacher.

Danny gave it only one more moment of thought before he did the same. The rest of the day went much like any other day: a quiet day of learning with no one's life being threatened. He was glad, so far, the only major threat to happen during school hours was Ms. Spectra playing with people's minds. He wasn't forgetting about the thing with Ember, but the students weren't at much of a risk sitting in the basement of an abandoned music store entranced to chant Ember's name. Ember hadn't done anything to them to endanger their lives, seriously injure them, or mentally and emotionally abuse them. She was simply misguided about her desire to be famous thanks to the whole becoming a ghost thing. Ms. Spectra, on the other hand, seemed to be conscious of what she was doing and simply didn't care, or worse enjoyed hurting the students. Thankfully, she hadn't turned up at any other schools in the area.

Danny decided to wait until after school to tell his friends about the strange dream. He wished he had more to tell them other than the vague message from the ghost, but a day of thinking on the dream offered him no new insights. When he finished recounting the dream, he waited, biting his lower lip, to hear what they said.

"So," Tucker said slowly, "let me get this straight. You have this dream about being all domesticated with a mercenary?" An eyebrow arched upward in disbelief. When Sam smacked him on the shoulder, Tucker drew back with a yelp of, "Ow!"

"That's hardly the point," Sam said with a glower. Her expression relaxed when she turned to Danny, but her violet eyes filled with concern. "So this ghost thinks the world is going to be destroyed?"

Danny shrugged. "That's what the image showed. But who really knows? It might have exaggerated the warning just so I would take it seriously. Maybe it's not even a literal destruction of the world. Maybe just that something drastic is going to happen to change the world we know if we don't stop it. And from the KABOOM!" He held up his hands in loose fists then sprung his fingers outward to illustrate an explosion. "I'm guessing it's going to be a bad thing."

"Well, I'm stumped." Tucker shrugged, frowning.

"We'll see if we can find out anything," Sam said, "though I don't know that we'll find much about a dream ghost."

"Just be careful if you go surfing the net for information," Danny warned. "If the Guys in White keep track of people looking up stuff about ghosts, I don't want them to come knocking on your doors."

His friends nodded, sensing the seriousness of the situation. "We'll be careful."

"Have you told your parents about this yet?" Sam questioned.

Danny shook his head. "Not yet." He didn't have to hide anything from his parents anymore, but they looked exhausted that morning when he came down for breakfast. How long had they spent going over the torn scroll of paper, trying to decipher what little text was there? If they were up most of the night working on it, Danny decided not to add to their pile of things to worry about until he knew a little more himself.

"So are you going to tell us what we're doing at the cemetery?" Tucker eyed the gates warily. Danny never knew his friend to have a phobia of cemeteries. Hospitals, yes. Cemeteries? This was new. But they also never had reason to hang out in cemeteries, so it hadn't exactly come up until now.

"I'm going to do a little research of my own," Danny said, grabbing his bag. "I may know someone who can help." It was a long shot. Clockwork may not even be loitering around the cemetery again. He might even purposely avoid it so Danny wouldn't be able to meet up with him. "I'll catch up with you both later." After a round of goodbyes, Danny climbed out of the car. He waved as Sam pulled away and drove off.

Then he turned to face the gates of the cemetery. It seemed most people didn't care to visit graves when it was still cold outside, which was perfect for him. He didn't need to have people randomly walk by and catch him apparently talking to himself. He walked through the rows of graves and shifted his eyes to vibrant green so he could see all the ghosts lurking in the cemetery. Ghosts, it seemed, didn't always loitering around their graves. He only spotted a handful of ghosts currently in the cemetery.

A couple strolled along a dirt path. The woman's body was transparent, and everything about her was white with only a hint of blue shadowing her features. Her hair was done up in intricate curls that Danny could only imagine took forever to do every day. Her dress looked like it came out of the Victorian age with her corset pinching in her waist to make it look narrower. She carried a parasol, resting it over her left shoulder. The man with her was much clearer, but his style of clothing was more modern, like he died recently. His dark skin stood out starkly against the paleness of the woman. His suit was tailored to fit and was a deep plum black.

Danny passed a ring of women, sitting between a row of gravestones. There were five of them, young, high school age. He didn't think he would ever catch such a variety of women hanging out together at his school. One woman had long black hair. Her lips were painted back, and she had gone heavy on the black eyeliner. Her clothes were just as dark. Next to her, a brown skinned woman had her frizzy hair pulled back into a thick ponytail which puffed out like a ball at the base of her skull. Her glasses framed beautiful brown eyes. Her style of dress was moderate, only showing off a bit of skin between the hem of her skirt and top of her knee high socks. After her, a Chinese woman had a twinkle in her dark eyes and bright smile on her face. She dressed in a cheerleaders uniform with a scarf around her neck. The uniform was the same colors as Casper High, though the style was older than their current uniforms. Her left knee was bandaged like she had recently injured it but not badly enough to require a cast.

The fourth woman wore a navy blue hijab and a warm looking dress coat to match it. Her fingers had several Band-Aids, and Danny wondered what she did to need so many. He knew he cut himself sometimes when cooking, and Tucker sometimes came to school with a bunch of Band-Aids on his fingers after working on a sewing project. The last woman, who was native American, wore her ebony hair in a long braid, which she draped over the front of a white lab coat. Her nose had a slight bend in it like it had been broken some time ago.

The five of them stopped chatting when they spotted Danny. When he glanced their way, they all bent inward and giggled. Danny couldn't help the rush of heat blossoming deep red on his cheeks. He left them to continue with their talking as he headed farther in and toward his sister's grave. When he reached it, he glanced around the area.

"Of course he's not here," he mumbled then sighed in disappointment. It was too much to hope for. But who else could he ask about a ghost who could communicate through dreams? Clockwork seemed like his best option, of ghosts whose name he actually knew. He could question the other ghosts he spotted in the cemetery, but they might not know anything about it.

"If you're looking for the big guy, he popped out for a little while. Very busy guy, you know."

Danny jumped at the voice then realized he recognized it. He let out a breath with a hand placed over his heart. When he heard a snicker from beyond one gravestone, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Just because I'm part ghost doesn't mean I can't get scared," he huffed as he walked over to the gravestone and peered over it. Sitting there was the ghost Danny met the first time he encountered Clockwork. Quinn, if he remembered correctly. The ghost was tinkering with a pocket watch, an old fashioned one encased in polished silver with the back popped open to show off the delicate mechanical parts inside.

"It's still a bit funny," Quinn said with a touch of amusement. "I don't mean anything bad by it, but the way you jumped was pretty amusing."

"Yeah," Danny mumbled, less amused about it. "Do you know if Clockwork is coming back anytime soon?"

Quinn shrugged. "I wouldn't hold my breath on that. With Clockwork, he could show up in the next two seconds from now or two years. Heck, it could be two centuries! You could wait around here hoping his time aligns so you can meet again, but you're better off going about your life. If he needs to speak to you, he'll find you."

Danny groaned, half tempted to bang his head on the top of the gravestone. "But I need to ask him about something! It could be really important!"

"Could be?" Quinn snorted. "That doesn't sound very certain. If the world were about to end, Clockwork would already be taking steps to prevent it. He's no fool. He's been at this kind of thing since the dawn of time. Trust me. He's not going to let the world be destroyed." Quinn looked up at Danny. "He's also not one to hand out answers just because you come asking. He's done a few favors now, and that's pretty amazing in itself. He doesn't usually do that sort of thing. I guess he took a special interest in you."

"I'm not sure whether to be happy about that," Danny said, staring flatly back at the ghost, "or if I should be worried."

"Well, think of it like this. He only takes interest in people he sees great potential in."

"Joy," Danny deadpanned. He sighed, pushing away from the gravestone. If Clockwork wasn't going to give him answers, he had no reason to hang around in the cemetery. Unless he wanted to see if the other ghosts had some interest tales to tell him. But he paused, turning his gaze back onto Quinn. "I don't suppose you know anything about a ghost that talks through dreams, huh? Or a ghost that has some kind of connection to dreams. Might have been trapped somehow. I don't know how recently."

Quinn stopped tinkering, and a long silenced passed. "Something about that sounds vaguely familiar. I don't always pay attention when Clockwork starts blathering about time stuff. But I think a ghost like that isn't bad." Quinn stared out over the rows of gravestones before them. "A ghost like that, they gain strength from people having good dreams. Nightmares weaken them and act like a barrier. They definitely wouldn't be the one behind any threat to the world. They would be trying to prevent anything from happening however they could. If they contacted you, they must have sensed great power in you. The kind of power needed to protect the world."

"Great. I'm doubly special," Danny muttered, slumping his shoulders. It felt more like having a great weight thrust onto him, and he was struggling not to collapse under it.

"Better you than I." Quinn shrugged. "I fix clocks. That's my thing. Saving the world is a bit beyond my ability. I can tell you one thing though." Quinn's tone and expression became serious. "Your family and friends definitely believe you're able to do it. Maybe that sounds like a lot of pressure, but they know you're strong. Stronger maybe than you believe you are. Believe in them too, because they'll always be there for you when you need it."

"That doesn't have a cryptic vibe at all."

"Be happy I told you anything at all. I could have just as easily told you to buzz off." Quinn shooed at him. "Now go on. I have plenty more clocks to fix, and I can't do it with you being a big distraction."

"Right, right." Danny rolled his eyes. "Um, thanks though. For at least trying to help." He turned and walked back toward the gate of the cemetery as he sighed. The trip didn't provide him with any great answers, but he had tried. He hugged his arms around him, fighting off the chilly air. Nightmares, huh? Maybe that was what the ghost meant with those images. It was trying to tell him nightmares prevented it from communicating earlier. Or maybe nightmares were what kept it trapped. Maybe it was a bit of both. "I hope Mom and Dad had better luck with the scroll."


	75. Chapter 75

Danny shoveled a forkful of egg into his mouth with his gaze focused on the television. Next to him, he had his books set up on the table, ready for him to dive into after he finished his, rather late, breakfast. Thankfully, his teachers were nice for the weekend and didn't assign an insane amount of homework. He should be able to finish rather quickly. After that, he could kick back and relax during his weekend until he needed to go out on patrol.

Maybe not entirely kick back and relax. Danny poked at the remainder of his breakfast. The dream still loomed over him, the unknown threat to the world weighing on him like a giant boulder. He still had no leads on what the dream ghost could have meant. Why wouldn't Clockwork show up to give him a hint? Quinn said Clockwork would nudge things along to ensure the safety of the world, but Danny couldn't help feeling anxious about it. He wanted to know what was happening. If he knew, maybe he could prepare better for what was to come.

Maybe this was like when Clockwork helped him learn about a new skill. Danny was given the hint about the threat, but now it was up to him to figure out what to do with that hint, like how Clockwork left it up to him to learn how to control and manipulate his energy.

"The mayor has just spoken to the press," Lance Thunder said, his voice tearing through Danny's thoughts like nails dragged down a chalkboard. Behind him, several other reporters were crowded before a podium. The mayor waved to them as he walked off stage surrounded by his bodyguards. "He has decided to overrule the Police Chief's decision to enforce a curfew on our city."

"Temporary Police Chief," Danny muttered, glaring at the news reporter.

"He claims that the curfew is hurting too many businesses to allow it to continue." Lance Thunder's face was red with fury. "Has he failed to realize that the curfew has lowered crime in our city? Lifting the curfew is opening our city to be overrun again by criminals. Perhaps we should all consider throwing our support behind Police Chief Walker as our next mayor. _He_ gets results."

Danny flipped off the television. He usually liked to keep up with the news, but he hated listening to Lance Thunder's idiotic opinions. Maybe crime had taken a dip with the curfew, but it was hurting the city too much. Businesses which were most active after sundown were losing out on the majority of their profits, which especially hit hard on the small businesses. They were heading toward bankruptcy because they were losing out on so much business. Employees, who may be the only money maker in the family, weren't earning enough to support themselves and their family.

But, of course, why would Lance Thunder ever care about that? He made plenty of money as a news reporter. The curfew didn't hurt him in any way, so, of course, he was completely okay with it continuing.

"You're lucky I didn't egg your house on Halloween," Danny muttered.

"Daniel Isaac Fenton!"

Danny winced, hearing the angry tone in his mother's voice as she full named him.

"I sincerely hope you have never participated in egging someone's house."

Danny glanced to the doorway of the front room. His mother stood there, her arms folded and a crossed expression on her face. "Of course not!" he answered before she could storm over to him and grab hold of his ear and give it a painful twist. "I was just frustrated listening to Lance Thunder shouting out his stupid opinions." His shoulders hunched forward as he lowered his gaze.

His mother sighed. "Don't get me started on him. He has had some fairly gross opinions and likes using his job as a soapbox to shout about them. But regardless of that, I hope your father and I raised you to know better than to egg someone's else because you disagree with their opinions."

"You have." Danny bobbed his head. His ghost powers, however, would make something like that a whole lot easier. Lance Thunder would never see it coming. He tried not to smirk at that idea. But he didn't need to give Lance Thunder any ammo he might decide to pin on Phantom. "But I can still entertain the idea in my head, right?"

His mother glared sternly but eventually gave up with a shake of her head. "I can't police your thoughts. But those kinds of thoughts better stay in your head."

"Of course." Danny smiled innocently. He turned to sit facing his mother. "Did you find out anything about that paper you managed to get?"

His mother shook her head, her mouth pulling downward. "The text seems to be fairly old. It's going to take some time to decipher what it says. But hopefully we'll figure it out soon."

Danny nodded, but the paper only brought up another mystery. What did the ghost want with this paper? What was so important about it? Did it have anything to do with what they did to Ember and Dan? Or why they enlisted the help of Johnny and Kitty and Ms. Spectra? Just what were they trying to accomplish? Did it relate to the threat the dream ghost tried to warn him about? He rubbed at his forehead as pressure throbbed at his skull.

"Danny," his mother smiled when he glanced up at her, "you're not alone in this. Jack and I will do everything we can to help you. Don't forget that."

"I know." Danny offered a smile back to her. Even though he knew his parents and his friends were there to help him, he couldn't help putting it all on his shoulders. It was a habit that was hard to break. "Well," he rolled up his sleeves, "I better get this homework done."

His mother left him to work on his homework, walking back into the kitchen. Danny finished up his breakfast and set the plate aside to wash later. Then he pulled his books over, focusing on getting through all the homework due after the weekend. He pressed the end of his pencil under his lower lip as he read over a question in his book, but his mind strayed for a moment. With the curfew being lifted, Officer Walker was sure to be furious about it. He might actually slip up and reveal some useful information to incriminate himself. Maybe it was too much to hope for, but the only way to prove Officer Walker was dirty was to keep watching him. Stopping by the precinct after he finished with his homework sounded like a good plan to him. With that in mind, he buckled down and put all his focus on finishing his homework.

He took a break when he had only a few more assignments left to do. When Danny took his plate to the kitchen, Cujo jumped up from where he laid on the floor on the other side of the table and followed his owner. Danny washed up the dishes in the sink. Then he grabbed the tennis ball from the counter near the back door. As he opened the door, he whistled for Cujo, who happily bounded out the open door. He played with Cujo in the backyard, tossing the tennis ball for the puppy to chase after and bring back to him. After ten or fifteen minutes, he called Cujo back into the house. Then, with a light snack, it was back to his homework.

"I'm heading out on patrol," Danny called to his parents, standing in the doorway leading down to their laboratory while already dressed and transformed for patrolling. His homework was done and packed away in his bag ready for school on Monday.

"Be careful," his mother said, appearing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Avoid those Guys in White jerks if you can," his father said.

"I will." Danny smiled at them then turned invisible and flew out through the back of the house.

He headed in the direction of the police precinct, hoping he might get something he could finally pass on to Valerie, though it wouldn't surprise him if she had the same idea as him after hearing the news about the curfew being lifted. His attention remained alert for any activity his ghost sense picked up.

A cold chill ran up his spine when he was a couple of streets away from the police precinct. He changed course and landed in front of a small boutique store that sold handcrafted jewelry. Cautiously, he stepped through the big picture window at the front of the store. The blinds were drawn shut, blocking the view to the outside so no passersby would be able to see what was happening inside. A woman in tight black clothing and bright orange ski mask held a gun pointed at the cashier behind the counter.

"Put the cash in the bag," she ordered, holding out a bag to the cashier.

She had a partner with her. Another woman smashed the glass casing on displays and snatched up the jewelry. She was dressed similarly, except her ski mask was an obnoxious neon yellow. Other than the cashier and the two jewelry thieves, three other people were in the store. A man and a woman huddled together, a couple most likely. The man held his arms protectively around the woman, his body turned in front of her to shield her. The last person - Danny almost dropped his invisibility when he recognized Star, crouching behind one of the displays. She was shaking badly with her arms over her head.

Danny focused back on the thieves. The one grabbing the jewelry didn't seemed to be armed. He couldn't see any evidence of a gun on her, so he put his attention on the one impatiently waiting for the cashier to empty the cash register. She needed to be dealt with first. Danny approached her, careful not to do anything to spook her. He didn't want to accidentally cause her to fire the gun and hurt someone.

The cashier fumbled with shaking hands as she stuffed the money into the bag. Several wads of cash spilled onto the floor, scattering bills everywhere behind the counter. She kept mumbling apologies and tried to quickly retrieve the fallen cash. The thief with the gun shouted at her to hurry, which only made the cashier fumble even worse.

Danny saw the thief lower her gun as she yelled and scared the cashier. Leaping into action, he grabbed her hands. She struggled against him, refusing to drop the gun. Danny twisted, pulling her weight with him. Off guard and struggling to keep her footing, Danny easily flipped her over. The thief hit the floor on her back with a painful groan. She lost her hold on the gun. It clunked against the floor, and Danny swept it away from the thief with his foot.

Before Danny could tie up the thief, the second thief charged at him with a shout. She stabbed at him with a small pocket knife. Danny backed up a step, smacking the hand aside to deflect it away from him. When she tried to swipe at him, he caught her wrist between his hands. She yanked on her arm but couldn't free it from his grip. Danny pulled down on the arm, bending her over as he brought up his knee. When his knee struck her in the gut, she grunted and released the knife. Twisting her arms behind her, Danny quickly tied her wrists together with a zip tie. The thief, who had held up the cashier at gunpoint, was sitting up, rubbing at her lower back. Danny tied up her hands too, before she could gain enough sense to grab the gun now laying against the back wall.

"Call the police," Danny instructed the cashier, who sniffled but nodded as she reached for the phone. "Is everyone okay? No one got hurt?"

"We're fine," the man answered as he helped his girlfriend to her feet.

"A bit shaken up though," she said, leaning on her boyfriend.

Danny turned to check on Star, but she was no longer hiding behind one of the display cases. Instead, Star had gone over to the cashier and offered her some tissues to blow her nose and clean away her tears. Even though she was scared by the robbery, she still offered comfort to the other woman.

"It looks like my work here is done," Danny said. "I should be going." He stepped toward the back wall of the shop. "Other crimes to stop."

"And you don't want to the police catching you," the man commented with a small smirk.

"Ah, yeah," Danny winced, "there's that too." He saluted the man as he stepped backwards out of the shop and into the small alley behind it.

With the robbery stopped and the police on the way, he turned to continue his way toward the police precinct. He barely took a step when his ghost sense spiked. If he hadn't stumbled backward, the fist coming at him would have smashed his head into the wall. The metal fist cracked the wall where it struck the bricks. Danny gulped, glad it wasn't head taking that damage.

"What are you doing here?" Danny gasped when he recognized Skulker, which wasn't too hard of a feat. He didn't know too many people with a neon green Mohawk.

Skulker pulled his hand from the wall and flexed his fingers. He turned to Danny, the corner of his mouth curling into a cruel grin. "I was just out walking, and then you happened to appear right in front of me. Guess today was my lucky day." He punched at Danny, who tripped over his feet and hit the ground on his back.

Sirens grew louder as the police grew closer to the jewelry store. Danny wanted to get out of the area. Even though they were behind the shop, he didn't like sticking around in case the Guys in White figured out a way to detect his location. He kicked at Skulker, but the man caught his foot before he could even connect his attack.

"Squirm if you like." Skulker grinned madly. "It's more fun when the prey struggles."

Danny turned intangible and yanked his foot, but cold dread trickled down his spine when he couldn't free it from the man's grip. It was the same as their last encounter. Something about the man was preventing him from phasing through Skulker's grasp. Danny panicked when he realized he couldn't free himself with intangibility. Skulker pulled on his leg, dragging Danny closer to him. Gritting his teeth, Danny scrambled for an idea of how to break free. The last time he got away, he needed Valerie to rescue him because he expended too much energy.

Danny almost smacked himself for not thinking of it sooner. He had practiced since then to learn control over his energy exactly for instances like this one. Focusing his energy in his hand, he waited until he had a good shot. When he was right under the man, Danny snapped his arm up and fired off a tennis ball size energy blast. Skulker dropped Danny's leg, shock washing over his expression in the brief second before the blast hit him in the chest. He was lifted up off the ground and landed several feet down the alley.

"I heard something back here!"

Danny jumped, hearing the shout from what he presumed was a police officer. Scrambling to his feet, he turned invisible and glanced down the alley. Skulker groaned, still laying on his back with one hand rubbing at his sore chest. The man was dangerous, especially with the ability to prevent a ghost from phasing free of his hold. Danny would have to be careful and keep his distance from Skulker in the future. He took to the air before a police officer reached the alley. Then he flew as fast as he could away from the scene.


	76. Chapter 76

Danny soared above Amity Park with a smile spread wide across his face. His teachers had gone light on the homework, and he sped through it in a hurry as soon as school let out. Ever since his run in with Valerie at lunch, he was anxious to don his Phantom costume and head to the police precinct to spy on Officer Walker. Things were finally looking up!

He stopped short of the precinct when he noticed someone hanging around on one of the rooftops two blocks away. The man was easy to recognize in his black and white costume. Danny flew toward the building then landed next to the man on the roof. Even with the two blocks between them, the police precinct was easy to see from this vantage point, which explained why Dan had the telescope with him.

"If you can turn invisible now, you could easily sneak in there to spy on him," Danny pointed out.

Dan lowered the telescope and turned to him. Even with the mask on, Danny got the feeling the mercenary was giving him a dry "well, duh" glare. "I was keeping my distance from him. I tailed him for a little while when he went out earlier. Lunch with the mayor to try to convince him to reinstate the curfew. I was tempted to kill him right there and then and save us all the hassle of his idiot rule. I figured watching from afar would prevent me from acting on that urge."

"Oh." Danny shifted awkwardly after hearing the answer. Dan was playing it smart, removing himself from temptation all so he could keep the promise of not killing for Danny's sake. "I know it's not the same, but every time I'm around him, I want to punch him in the face. The guy's basically a tyrant. No, that doesn't mean I want him dead," he added, almost sensing the hope from the mercenary.

Dan's shoulders drooped with his disappointment. "Anyway, he arrived back at the precinct twenty minutes ago. I was debating whether or not to risk going in there."

"Well, this is good." Danny almost bounced on the balls of his feet when he remembered what had him so anxious earlier. "I heard some good news today. Police Chief Gray woke up from his coma!" From the way his mask moved, Danny got the impression that Dan's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"That's great!" Dan folded his arms with a thoughtful "Hm," making Danny worry about what was on his mind. "But I don't think his statement alone will be enough to do away with Officer Walker."

Danny frowned. He didn't want to admit Dan was right because the mercenary being right meant they still needed to find something that would prove Officer Walker was the one who fired on Police Chief Gray.

"I'm just trying to look at this from that guy's point of view," Dan explained, thrusting a thumb in the direction of the police precinct. "We get the Police Chief to tell his side of the story, and Officer Walker is going to have a plan to counter it. Police Chief Gray suffered a head injury in the accident. He's been in a coma all this time. Officer Walker will say he's remembering things wrong. Or he'll try to say something like you got to the Police Chief first and brainwashed him into believing your version of the story. He'll manipulate it any way he can to keep himself in power."

Danny sighed as he turned to stare at the police precinct. "So I guess we're stuck keeping watch on him until we get something else."

Dan slapped him on the back. "We aren't going to get what we need standing around out here."

"You'll be able to control wanting to murder him?" Danny asked skeptically. His face burned brightly when the mercenary suddenly hugged him. "W-What are you doing?"

"Recharging," Dan mumbled. After a few more seconds, he pulled away. "Okay!" He pumped a fist into the air. "Now I can resist wanting to kill him."

"Hugging me suppresses that urge?" Danny wasn't sure he understood that correctly.

Dan nodded. "Reminds me why I'm even trying so hard to not kill people. If I was still chopping people's heads off for money, you would never let me do that."

Danny struggled with how he felt about it. He was glad to hear Dan was managing to refrain from killing people, but it was still strange knowing the mercenary was doing it because Dan liked him. Most people he knew didn't need that kind of reason to not kill people. "Anyway," Danny said, wanting to change the subject, "let's go see if we can get anything on Officer Walker." He stepped toward the edge of the roof when Dan stopped him.

"Um." Dan turned his head away, and Danny was almost certain the mercenary blushed with embarrassment. "The invisibility thing I've got down. Intangibility I can do most times that I try. But flying," he spread his hands out, one hand still holding the telescope, "that I haven't quite managed successfully."

Danny almost chuckled. "That one took some trial and error to work out. Ember could tell you I wasn't a very steady flier that first time."

"Ember?" Dan sounded like he frowned as he pushed the telescope closed then stashed it away in a pouch. Maybe there was a touch of jealousy in his voice.

"Yeah, I helped stop her from continuing down the crazy obsessed route to evil villainess." Danny shrugged. "That's all that happened between us." He almost believed Dan disregarded the explanation and was now pouting. "Come on. Let's go before we miss hearing something good." He stepped up behind Dan and caught his arms under the mercenary's armpits. Then he lifted them both into the air, Dan's legs dangling freely below them. As he flew toward the precinct, he shifted them to invisible. He thought Dan muttered something, but whatever it was, it was much too soft for him to hear.

When they reached the precinct, Danny phased them into the building near the Police Chief's office. He cringed when he saw the number of officers wearing the white suit signifying they worked for the Guys in White. It scared him to think of just how many agents were in Amity Park, policing the town. Luckily, they lacked any decent ghost detection, or Danny and Dan's presence would have set off every alarm in the building. They walked to the Police Chief's office, and Danny wrinkled his nose with disgust when he saw the plaque of Officer Walker's name covering up Mr. Gray's name. He was sorely tempted to rip the plaque off the door, but he didn't want to alert anyone that they were here.

Inside the office, Danny didn't feel much better about things. When he came here before, he didn't spend a whole of time looking around the office, too focus on searching for information about his sister's case before his ghost sense alerted him to Johnny and Kitty. But he definitely knew most of what was in the office was new. There was even a framed list of instructions on proper uniform cleaning to ensure everything would remain crisp and perfectly bright white. It was a little nauseating in Danny's mind.

Officer Walker sat in the chair behind the desk, which looked much newer and cushier than the chair Police Chief Gray had. On the plus side, Officer Walker wore a frustrated scowl as he drummed his boney fingers on the desktop. At his feet, an agent was on his knees, scrubbing furiously to polish Officer's Walker black shoes. Danny's shoulder throbbed in response to seeing the agent. The man was the same one who shot him with the tracking bullet that canceled out his powers. Danny rubbed absently at his shoulder, though the wound had long since healed, as he frowned at the agent.

"Tell me, Cooper," Officer Walker said, and the agent flinched when he spoke. "Do you think you've been punished enough for your failure?"

Agent Cooper stared with terror in his eyes at Officer Walker, and Danny could only wonder what was done to the agent for him to show so much fear. His gaze darted around the room. He kept silent, too scared to give an answer.

"Honestly, you should feel lucky," Officer Walker continued, glossing over the brief pause like he never expected Agent Cooper to respond anyway. "There are a lot worse punishments I could have assigned you other than simply stripping you of your rank and demoting you to boot polisher." His mouth pressed thin, and he glared down at the agent, his eyes colder than ice. "You had the perfect chance to capture Phantom, and you let him get away. Such incompetence! How did you ever become an agent in the first place?"

"Like I told you," Agent Cooper said earnestly, twisting the rag in his hands, "he had a partner that came out of nowhere. I was lucky to escape with my life!"

Beside Danny, Dan almost snort out a laugh. Danny put a little super strength into it when he squeezed Dan's hand as a warning.

"The man was going to kill me!"

"I don't want to hear excuses!" Officer Walker slapped his hand down on the desk with a loud smack of flesh against hard wood. "If excuses are all you're capable of, perhaps you should pack your things and start looking for a new job."

"My, my, that's interesting to hear."

Danny snapped his head around to the office door when he heard the new arrival speak. He made a face at the obnoxious white suit the man wore. His skin was almost as pale as the uniform. His sandy blond hair was slicked back, and a trimmed mustache covered his upper lip. He stood stiffly with his arms folded behind his back and an air of superiority so thickly surrounding him Danny could almost feel its oppressive weight pushing at him.

"Sir!" Officer Walker jumped to his feet, which surprised Danny. Who knew there was someone who could make even Officer Walker nervous?

"Agent Cooper, you're dismissed," said the new man. Agent Cooper didn't hesitate and quickly left the office. The other man closed the door once Agent Cooper was gone.

"Tanner," Officer Walker said with a gulp.

Tanner arched an eyebrow as his mouth pursed in distaste. "You seem to do a lot of complaining about the failures of those working under you when you have yet to produce any results yourself."

"Excuse me?" Officer Walker's left eye twitched. "Have you forgotten that I was the one who managed to open the way for us to seize control of this town?"

"Oh yes, what a wonderful job you've done." Tanner brought his hands around and clapped, but his expression remained blank.

Danny would have laughed at the comical way Officer Walker's face turned bright red, but he was too tense, waiting to hear what would happen next.

"However, the higher ups don't much care if you've become _temporary_ Police Chief here." Tanner stressed the word, the corner of his mouth almost crinkling in a smirk. "You've been here for a number of years without any progress until a certain wannabe hero popped up."

Danny ground his teeth, glaring at the man for calling him a wannabe.

"The thing is," Tanner continued, "they know your position is unreliable. While the Police Chief may be in a coma right now, there's always the potential that he'll awaken." He frowned. "If that happened, you'd most assuredly be kicked out of office. As you know, that would be very bad for us. The Police Chief has never thought well of us. We need him not to make a return to office. Surely you know where I'm going with this."

"You expect me to kill him?" Officer Walker's nose flared, and his eyes narrowed a fraction.

"You had no problems putting him in the hospital. I assumed you wouldn't have any problems finishing the job. After all," Tanner's mouth curled in a cruel smirk, "you want to remain in charge, don't you?" He turned to leave but paused with his hand on the doorknob as he glanced over his shoulder. "I must warn you. You have a small time frame to get the job done." Then he stepped out of the office, closing the door behind him. The click of the door seemed to echo loudly in the silent room.

After several seconds ticked by, Officer Walker growled as he swept his arms over his desk, throwing everything on it onto the wall. The computer hit the ground with a crunch. Papers fluttered everywhere. Danny pulled on Dan's hand, deciding it was time they left. An idea began taking form in his mind as he flew away from the police precinct with Dan in his arms.

"He's going to kill the Police Chief," Dan said when they were several blocks away from the precinct. "Don't let that anger display fool you. He'll kill the Police Chief without hesitation. He likes the power too much, and he wants to keep in good standing with whomever is high up on the food chain."

"I don't doubt it," Danny said, half distracted by his thoughts. "But I'll have to correct on one point. He's going to try to kill the Police Chief. We're going to stop him."

"And you have a plan for that?" Dan sounded skeptical.

"Yup!" Danny didn't say anymore until they reached the hospital.

Finding the right room took a few tries, or fifty, but they eventually arrived in the right room. The door was open. Danny checked the hall. Doctors and nurses walked around, checking charts or discussing treatment options. Some patients strolled the hall with family and friends, taking the chance to get out of their room for a while. Danny pushed the door shut, hoping no one would notice it closed on its own.

"What-" Valerie snapped her gaze toward the door. Then she jumped to her feet when Danny dropped the invisibility. "D-Phantom! What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk," Danny told her.

"Are you going to tell us the plan?" Dan questioned as he leaned against a wall.

"Seriously, what's going on?" Valerie demanded. "My dad needs his rest. No offense, but I don't think he needs this kind of excitement right now."

"Val, it's okay," Mr. Gray said, though he looked exhausted. "Something tells me Phantom wouldn't be here unless it was important."

"We just heard a very interesting discussion involving that jerk Walker," Dan said, growling when he reached Officer Walker's name.

"His bosses want you out of the way, Sir." Danny winced after saying it out loud. It wasn't the most delicate way to put it, but he didn't think there really was any way to delicately tell someone they were going to be killed.

Valerie's eyes hardened. "We're not going to let _anyone_ touch my dad."

"Valerie," her father said, calling her attention to him.

"Dad, I can-"

"I know quite well how strong you are, but I don't want you putting yourself in harm's way."

"Not my business. I know. But your daughter is seriously amazing," Danny put in.

"Oh yeah," Dan agreed. "She can totally hold her own in a fight."

Valerie offered them a small smile of thanks. "Dad, you put yourself in harm's way to protect Phantom. You do it to protect total strangers. I'm just asking to do the same to protect _you_."

"And she won't be alone," Danny added. "We're all going to be here. We're going to catch Officer Walker in the act of attempting to murder the Police Chief. He won't be able to talk his way out of that."

Dan clapped a hand onto Danny's shoulder. "Sneaky. I like it!"

Mr. Gray nodded as he digested the information. "You're going to make me go entirely gray with worry." He pointed a finger at his daughter. "I have some men that I trust. They can help with this plan. Let's get started." They got to work fine tuning the plan to catch Officer Walker red handed.


	77. Chapter 77

Danny shifted, his legs feeling stiff from crouching for a long time. He wanted to get up and move around, but they needed to wait and be patient. He hated it. They spent the first day planning their trap for Officer Walker, who didn't show. This was now their second day keeping watch over Police Chief Gray, ready to spring their trap at any moment and catch Officer Walker in the act of attempted murder. The waiting was driving him crazy though.

Mr. Gray wasn't entirely thrilled with Dan's involvement. Working with a mercenary didn't exactly look good for the Police Chief, but he allowed it since Dan was helping to keep one of his people hidden through the use of invisibility. Danny did the same. According to Dan and Valerie, Officer Eaton was the witness they found to the incident at the police precinct. Mr. Gray valued the man's loyalty and planned on getting Officer Eaton his job back once he was able to take up office as the Police Chief again. Valerie, meanwhile, was staked out in the attached bathroom with the door cracked open just enough for her to keep watch over what was happening in the room.

The door of the room creaked in the quietness when it opened. Danny tensed, feeling more alert. The air grew heavy with anticipation, everyone in the hospital room waiting to see what mysterious visitor would step through the doorway. Light from the hall spilled into the dimly lit room. Then tension melted out of everyone when they realized it was only the doctor instead of Officer Walker.

"Sorry to disappoint," the doctor apologized. "I just came for a quick check." He walked over to the hospital bed to check on how Police Chief Gray was doing now that he was awake from his coma. "How are you adjusting?"

"Less tired than yesterday," Mr. Gray answered. When they left last night, Valerie confessed to Danny that her father was quite distraught after he woke up and learned he lost his arm. Danny could only imagine what that would be like, to wake up and discover his arm was amputated.

It was Mr. Gray's decision to inform the hospital about their plan to catch Officer Walker. He made arrangements with the doctors, and the patients in the rooms surrounding his room were moved to different ones so they wouldn't be at any risk of danger. The doctors and nurses were instructed to go about their business as usual. They didn't want to alert Officer Walker to something being odd by having the floor completely devoid of the normal personnel. Once they saw Officer Walker and he entered Police Chief Gray's room, all hospital personnel were told to quickly find somewhere to hide to avoid being taken hostage should anything go wrong with the plan. Patients and any visitors were told not to leave their rooms for the same reason. Danny thought it would be fairly frustrating being locked up in a hospital room, but Mr. Gray was thinking of everyone's safety in a situation that had potential to turn dangerous.

When he was satisfied with Police Chief Gray's condition, the doctor left the room. Silence fell over them as they returned to once again waiting for Officer Walker to show. Danny resisted the urge to sigh. He should know a stakeout wouldn't be some thrilling adventure, but he expected Officer Walker to make his move by now. What was he waiting for? He knew where to find Police Chief Gray, who wouldn't be going home for at least a week according to the doctor. They were being cautious with his condition, not wanting to send him home before knowing he was in perfect health.

Officer Walker wasn't even aware that Police Chief Gray was awake now. They made sure to keep the circle of people who knew small since they wanted Officer Walker to still believe Mr. Gray was in a coma, an easier target for him because Mr. Gray couldn't be able to defend himself if he was unconscious.

"Never thought I would be working with _the_ Phantom," Officer Eaton whispered, shifting next to Danny to find a more comfortable position in which to crouch.

Danny frowned, hesitant about how to respond to the comment. "Sorry," he said, almost questioningly. Did his presence offend the officer?

Officer Eaton chuckled under his breath. "I meant because you seem to do your thing without our help. It just feels strange that we're now collaborating on a case."

Danny nodded. "We both have the same goal. We want to protect people and put the criminals away. I know I don't always make things easy for you, the police, but I'm doing the best that I can to do what I think is right."

"And while I do appreciate your efforts," Police Chief Gray said from his bed, "you'll understand that we can never agree with your actions out loud to the public."

"Yeah," Danny said and almost sighed. He did understand. If the police showed any approval of one vigilante, other people might think they can dress up in costume and do whatever they liked. Danny had his reasons for what he did, and so did Valerie. He wondered if she would continue as the Huntress after her father was back in office again. Maybe she would decide to hang up the costume with her goal of finding out the truth about what happened to her father achieved. Dan was another story, but since the mercenary wasn't killing anyone in town anymore, Danny decided that was enough.

"Shh!" That was Dan. "I think I hear someone coming."

They all went quiet again. Even though he lay there like he was unconscious, Police Chief Gray was as tense as the rest of them. They hoped to pull off this plan with little trouble, but they couldn't predict all the variables, which was the reason they took so many precautions when working out the details of their plan. They wanted to prepare for as many potential outcomes as possible.

The footsteps stopped in front of the door to the room. They heard a nurse greet the person with a cheerful, "Good evening!" Her footsteps were lighter than the heavy sound of the person's booted feet. A moment passed, everyone in the room on edge. Then the door pushed open. They identified the man in an instant. Officer Walker finally arrived.

Danny had the urge to jump up and tackle the man to the floor, but he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain still and keep his hold on Officer Eaton so he wouldn't expose them prematurely. He shot a glance toward the bathroom door where he could just see a furious green eye glaring through the slit.

Officer Walker closed the door behind him then stood, staring at Police Chief Gray's body. Danny eased himself to his feet, along with Officer Eaton. After a moment, Officer Walker strolled over to the bed like he was going to greet a sick relative. Danny and Officer Eaton quietly circled around the man on their way toward the door. If Officer Walker tried to make a run for it, they would be there to block his way. Meanwhile, Dan and the officer he hid - Officer Jenkins, Danny recalled - were moving in closer to grab Officer Walker before he could harm their boss. Valerie likely already had her staff out and ready to attack when the time came.

"So pathetic," Officer Walker muttered. "This all would have been a lot easier if you had just listened to me from the beginning. But you had to be stubborn." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe. "And now, I need to make sure you don't ruin things, so I'm afraid you can never wake up." He uncapped the syringe then reached for Police Chief Gray's arm to inject the man with poison.

Everyone responded at that moment. Danny and Dan dropped their invisibility, revealing themselves and the officers they hid. Danny and Officer Eaton remained at the door to stand guard. Officer Jenkins grabbed Officer Walker's wrist, yanking his arm back before the needle could get anywhere near Mr. Gray's arm. Valerie burst out of the bathroom with her staff in her hands and rage in her eyes. Officer Jenkins and Walker struggled, each one fighting to gain possession of the syringe. Dan swiped it from both of the men, taking hold of the syringe and turning it intangible to easily phase it out of the officers' hold.

"The game is up," Mr. Gray said sternly, pressing a button on the hospital bed so he could sit up. "You're under arrest for attempted murder." Officer Jenkins took out a pair of handcuffs.

Officer Walker snorted then barked out a bitter laugh. "You really think I'd let you take me that easily." He took something out of his pocket, but Danny couldn't make out what it was. Officer Walker faced sideways to him, and the hand holding the item was on the other side, the man's body blocking Danny's view.

Then a shrill ringing filled the room. Danny clapped his hands over his ears, but that did nothing to dampen the noise. His legs gave out under him, his knees slamming against the tiled floor, and he slumped to the floor, trying desperately to block the ringing. It reminded him of the time he spied on Ember in the basement of the abandoned music store. She used a sound wave that left him weakened and disoriented. Tucker being there was the only reason Danny got away before the police could capture him that time.

Danny couldn't hear anything beyond the ringing, but he groped out with one hand when he saw something white passing him. A heel slammed down on his hand, crunching bone, and Danny howled with pain. He couldn't tell how much time went by, but after an eternity of agony from the ringing, it finally stopped. Danny gasped, his throat raw and his hand throbbing.

"Careful," Valerie said, gingerly touching his shoulder.

When he looked up, Danny could see fear in her eyes. "What happened?" His head felt like someone tried to turn his brain into jelly.

"Well, um," Valerie frowned, her brow creasing like even she wasn't sure, "Walker used some weird device. It seems to have affected you and Dan mostly. I only heard this buzzing." She waved a hand near her ear. "It mostly just made the room feel like it was rocking. I tried to help fight off Walker, but I just got in the way." Her shoulders slouched. "Officers Jenkins and Eaton went after him. Hopefully they'll grab him before he can get out of the hospital."

Danny shakily sat up and held his uninjured hand over his mouth. His stomach felt like it was trying to rebel against him. "Dan, how are you doing?" He looked over to where the mercenary remained laying on the floor.

"You mean other than the assassination of my pride and dignity?" Dan questioned with a groan. Then he managed to push himself up into a sitting position. "I feel like that time I jumped out of a building and split my head open." He rubbed at his head like he expected to find it split right down the middle. Thankfully, everything looked to be intact, but any damage would be healed eventually. It was one of the advantages of being a ghost, or at least half ghost.

"I'm glad all of you are all right," Mr. Gray said. "I was worried there when the both of you dropped like rocks. I guess Walker made a contingency plan in case his attempt to kill me failed. Regardless, he is no longer an officer of the law, and we'll have police searching for him if he manages to elude us here."

"What's the next step?" Valerie stood, looking like she was ready to rush into another battle. The effect was ruined slightly when she wobbled for a brief second. The sound attack must have affected her more than she realized.

"First, you," Mr. Gray pointed at his daughter, "are going to get checked out by a doctor. I don't want to hear you say you're fine." He shook his head when Valerie looked like she would argue. "Allow me this for peace of mind."

Valerie huffed a sigh but seemed to consent to the command.

"I'm guessing ghosts heal differently than humans." Police Chief Gray glanced at Danny and Dan. "Or at least, that you have somewhere to go for your own medical needs?"

"Ah, yeah," Danny said, not daring to nod in case it made his head spin. His parents could give him and Dan a look over to make sure the sound attack hadn't caused any unforeseen problems with them.

"Good." Mr. Gray nodded. "Then the next thing to do is I will contact the mayor for a meeting. I will convince him that the Guys in White are a menace to the town, led by the overzealous Walker who recently made an attempt on my life. I think he'll be willing to see reason after I mention that point."

Danny slowly climbed to his feet. "Sorry we weren't much help in the end, Sir." He frowned, lowering his gaze. They were supposed to capture Walker. That was the plan! And it failed because he hadn't thought about the Guys in White having developed a weapon that could immobilize him and Dan through sound.

"You were plenty helpful," Mr. Gray argued. "You brought us the intel, and you provided cover for my people so they could keep watch unseen. That is more than enough. Now the three of you should be checked out." He hit a button on the bed, calling for a nurse.

Danny helped Dan to his feet. The mercenary leaned heavily on him, and Danny nearly fell over backward under his weight. "I'm really glad you're all right, Sir," Danny told Mr. Gray. It felt like the town would finally get back to normal, or at least the normal of not having the Guys in White causing problems.

"Thank you for your help. Perhaps we can collaborate like this again sometime," Police Chief Gray offered, and Danny nodded, deciding he wouldn't mind assisting the police again, when he knew they weren't planning to arrest him afterward.

"Are you two going to be okay?" Valerie asked, frowning skeptically at the unsteady pair of costumed men.

"We'll be fine!" Dan gave her a thumbs up as he stood with one arm around Danny's shoulders and leaning heavily on the teen hero. "A little thing like that? Pfft! It's nothing. We'll be healed up in no time."

Danny rolled his eyes, though he suspected the mercenary would recover faster than he would. "I'm sure we'll be fine," he told Valerie. "But we're still going to get checked out just in case. So we'll just head out now."

"Be careful out there," Mr. Gray said with a line of worry creasing his brow. "The Guys in White haven't been run out of town just yet."

After promising to be extra cautious, Danny bid farewell to Mr. Gray and his daughter. Then he turned himself and Dan invisible before he flew them out of the hospital. It wasn't his most graceful flight ever. The sound attack Walker used messed with Danny's equilibrium, causing him to veer off course more than once.

"So where are we headed?" Dan asked once they were a few blocks away from the hospital.

"My house," Danny answered distractedly. He put most of his focus on making sure they didn't crash into anything, or fall right out of the sky. He already had enough scares about becoming pavement patty to last him a lifetime.

"What?" Dan gasped. "Seriously?"

The implications struck him, and Danny dipped several feet before correcting his flight. By taking Dan to his house, Danny would be introducing the mercenary to his parents. He gulped. Meet the parents shouldn't happen this soon into a relationship, but he wanted to be sure the sound attack hadn't damaged them in any way.

"Uh, yeah," Danny answered Dan, hoping he didn't sound too much like a nervous teenage. "They know about this ghost stuff. If anything's wrong with us, they'll be able to fix it."

"This should be interesting."

Danny hoped "interesting" wouldn't turn out to be a bad thing.


	78. Chapter 78

Danny glanced around the street when they reached his neighborhood. The Guys in White didn't often show their faces this close to his house, but he felt on edge after what happened at the hospital. Maybe Walker got word back to the Guys in White about his failed attempt to murder Police Chief Gray, and the rest of the Guys in White decided to beef up their presence to do as much damage as possible before the mayor forced them out of town.

The streets were clear, thankfully, and Danny pulled Dan along behind him as he crossed over to his house. Was this the best idea? He worried about how things would go when his parents met Dan. He couldn't envision this meeting happening in any way which didn't include his parents finding out about his and Dan's relationship. He almost groaned out loud thinking about it. But they needed to make sure they were all right after Walker's sound attack.

Taking a deep breath, Danny phased them through the front door of his house. Beside him, Dan whistled as Danny dropped the invisibility now that they were safe. Pulling off his mask, he shifted back to human.

"Nice place," Dan said appreciatively as he turned his head, looking around the front hall.

"Well, it's my parents' place," Danny said with a small blush. "And I guess we should go find them. Get checked out and all that."

"You sound pretty nervous about it."

"I haven't exactly had a lot of boyfriends, or girlfriends. And I've never really done the whole meet the parents thing." Danny led the way down the hall to the kitchen. "You're not nervous at all?"

"Ha!" Dan barked out. "Terrified. I can't say many of my relationships ever reached the 'meet the parents' stage. They were always more quick in love and quick out of love. Err," he rubbed the back of his head, "though I guess you could say those were more lust driven relationships than ones with actual feelings. Ah! But don't think that this is just lust," he added quickly, shaking a hand before him like he was trying to wave off any doubts. "I like you for more than just your body."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Danny gulped, wincing when he heard his mother's voice. Slowly, he turned to find his parents standing at the door to their laboratory. He forced a smile to his face, but he was sure it looked pathetic. "H-Hi, Mom. Dad."

His mother wore a severe expression with her arms folded as she stared at the pair in her kitchen. His father frowned, his blue eyes focused on the mercenary, like he was trying to size up whether or not he could take on Dan if things came to a fight.

"I would hate to hear that you've seduced my son for nothing more than sex," his mother said with sharp, cold glare directed at the mercenary.

"Who exactly is he?" his father questioned. "One of those boys from school? And why the suit?"

"What?" Danny gawked at his father. "No!"

"Jack, dear, I'm fairly certain this man has been long out of high school," his mother told her husband, but the fact brought a twist to her mouth. Danny could guess she wasn't happy to know her son was involved with an older man.

"There's nothing physical going on between us!" Danny assured his parents. "I mean, we're dating now, but we're taking it slow."

"I would never lay a hand on Danny while he's still underage." Dan held up his hands. "Even after his eighteenth birthday, we probably still won't do it. I just mean," he added quickly when he caught the darkening expressions on Danny's parents' faces, "that while, yes, I am physically attracted to Danny and would love to do it, that's not the number one thing on my mind. I've learned that lesson about jumping straight to-"

"Maybe not the time to ramble about that," Danny muttered to Dan, dreading his parents' reaction based on their expressions.

"Right," Dan said slowly as he gathered his thoughts. "What I was trying to say is that I care about more than just the physical attraction with Danny. He's smart and funny and kind and all that great stuff. The more I spend time with him, the more I like him and want to learn even more about him. You raised a really great son."

"Oh," his mother blushed flustered for a moment, "why thank you!"

"But don't think flattery will win us over," his father said, folding his arms and puffing out his chest to give himself a bigger appearance. "You're several years older than Danny. We aren't just going to casually forget that. And," he turned his gaze onto Danny, who stood up straight with eyes wide and alert, "I'm curious to know why this is the first time we're learning you have a boyfriend." He stared pointedly at his son.

"It was a recent thing," Danny answered stiffly. "We knew each other before and danced around our feelings. But only recently, we confessed and moved from friends to boyfriends. I didn't say anything because," he shifted, twisting at his glove, "I don't know. Scared, maybe?" He bit his lip, wincing and waiting for an explosion of anger from his parents.

"That's probably my fault," Dan admitted, raising a hand. "He probably didn't think you'd take it well when you heard I was a mercenary."

"What?" his father shouted, eyes bugging out.

"As in?" His mother squinted at Dan.

"Uh," Dan glanced at Danny, "reformed, that is. No more killing for me."

"I know that sounds bad." Danny stopped his parents before they could jump on it. "He's killed. Yes, I'm aware of it. It's been a major source of my conflict over liking him. But you can't focus on defining him only as a killer. He does a lot of good things. I know that doesn't mean you should just overlook the whole killing thing, but he's changing. He hasn't killed since he met me. Phantom me. Should we really-"

"Danny!" his father cut him off, and Danny bit down on his tongue, dropping his gaze. He placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "We're just concerned for you. We don't know anything about this man. You can't blame us for being cautious about the guy our son is dating."

"We can have him stay for dinner," his mother suggested. "That way we can get to know him better."

"Oh, uh, that's, um," Danny glanced at Dan, "not really why we came by."

"It sounds like a great plan to me!" Dan agreed cheerfully.

"Excellent!" His mother clapped her hands as she walked over to the refrigerator. "We can get started on dinner right now."

"I can make a mean spaghetti," Dan offered.

"Wait!" Danny shouted, drawing all eyes to him. "Before any of that," and he couldn't believe they just jumped from meeting to having dinner, "we really need you to check us out."

"What?" His mother frowned as she walked back over to him. "What's wrong?"

"Short version. Valerie's dad woke up. We made a plan to catch Walker. Which seemed to be working. But then he used some kind of device that emitted this sound wave attack."

"That was super painful." Dan rubbed at his ear like he could still hear it.

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "I thought my head would explode at one point. Anyway, we feel fine now, but we thought it best to get looked at because," he shrugged, "you never know if something invented by the Guys in White might cause, like, internal damage."

"Kind of like that tracker you got shot with," Dan recalled. "It shorted out your powers."

"What?" Both his parents grabbed at his arms, checking him as if they thought he might still have the tracker stuck in him.

"I'm fine." Danny shot the mercenary a glare, telling him to shut up. "It wasn't anything major. So let's just focus on the most recent Guys in White attack."

His mother nodded, running her fingers through his hair. "I'll be glad when the Guys in White are finally kicked out of town."

"Question first." His father pointed at Dan. "Why did the Guys in White device affect him too?"

"Oh, um," Danny winced, "that's because Dan is a ghost."

"Recently learned about that too." Dan turned his head to Danny, almost like he was questioning him.

With an impression of what the mercenary was trying to get across, Danny said, "It's okay to take off your mask. My parents have been researching ghosts for years. They won't think you're a monster."

Dan hesitated then reached up and removed his mask. When it came off, the top of his head exploded with white flames, earning a gasp from Danny's mother. His head was bowed, but he slowly raised his gaze like he was afraid to see their reactions to his scarred face. Danny's parents were, understandably, surprised by what they saw when Dan unmasked himself. The mercenary's face took some time to get used to, but he wasn't hideous. The scars were ugly, but under them, Danny knew Dan was a handsome man before the explosion caught him.

"That's, um-" His mother searched for a delicate response after seeing Dan's face.

"Fascinating!" his father announced brightly. "I don't suppose you let us do some research on you?"

When Dan turned an uncertain gaze on him, Danny sighed. "They promise they won't do something like dissect you. They just want to learn more about ghosts. They won't do anything you don't consent to."

"Uh, okay." Dan shrugged. "Maybe you'll help me understand what happened."

Danny hadn't considered it, but maybe his parents could learn something about the organization by studying Dan. Maybe the mercenary had something left over from whatever experiment was done him which could point toward the people behind what happened. "First," Danny said, "let's make sure that attack didn't do any major damage. Then we can deal with other stuff."

With that decided, Danny and Dan followed his parents down the stairs into the laboratory. Dan hesitated when they reached the bottom of the stairs. Danny turned in time to catch the briefest flash of fear in his red eyes before it was gone, washed away with a cocky confidence. He would have thought it funny, Dan the mercenary scared of a basement laboratory, but then he remembered Dan's story about how he became a ghost. Dan didn't remember much of the details, but maybe he remembered, at least in flashes, a laboratory like this where he was experimented on with the end result being his birth as a ghost. Danny reached out and slipped his hand into Dan's hand and gave it a small squeeze.

"This is just like a check up at the doctors," Danny whispered. "They'll just look us over, make sure everything's okay, and that's it."

Dan nodded, a bit jerkily, and strolled forward, still holding Danny's hand. The tests his parents performed on them weren't at all scary, but Danny never tried to pull his hand free. He did, however, catch the looks on his parents' faces when they noticed the handholding. He pretended to not know they noticed, but his cheeks kept growing warmer as the seconds ticked by.

"Well, everything looks all right," his mother said when she finished examining him. "It seems whatever Walker used, it was only meant to temporarily stun and immobilize ghosts. I assume once they used that on a ghost, they would swoop in to capture it. Luckily, Walker only used it to stun you two to make his escape."

Danny nodded, but he couldn't shake the terrifying idea of what if Walker had brought backup with him when he tried to kill Police Chief Gray. Depending on the number of agents he brought with him, they could have easily overpowered the police officers and Valerie and taken Danny and Dan into custody. The thought chilled Danny, and he squeezed Dan's hand like it reassured him that didn't happen.

"Gah! Fire!"

Danny snapped his head around when he heard the shout. His father looked panicked, arms flailing like he didn't know what to do. Dan, meanwhile, grinned widely as he watched the small green flame flickering on the tip of his finger. Danny almost laughed at his father's reaction, but he frowned curiously.

"How did you do that?" Danny lifted his gaze from the flame to the mercenary.

"Um," Dan replied uncertainly, "I don't really know. I just-" He snapped his fingers with his other hand, and a small green flame sparked to life.

Danny stared, his eyes widening. "I don't have a ghost power like that!"

"Oh?" Dan smirked. "I have a power you don't?"

Danny frowned as the flame reflected in Dan's eyes. "You are not using that power to blow anything up."

Dan pouted. "Party pooper."

"I'm not entirely sure how I feel about all of this," his mother said, frowning as she placed a hand to her cheek. "Oh, I know what you said." She waved off Danny's concerned look. "And I'm sure we'll like him once we've gotten to know him. It's just," her mouth pursed to the side as she considered her words, "surreal, I suppose. We're in the presence of a man who has killed others for money. That's not something we can simply set aside and forget about. So you'll have to forgive us if we seem a bit hesitant about this whole relationship between you two."

"Of course, we want you to be happy," his father said, still eying the flames with worry. "But we also want you to be safe."

Danny smiled, appreciating their concerns about him. "It's all going to be fine," he told his parents.

"Your son's a pretty good fighter," Dan added. "I think it's safe to say that if it ever comes to a fight - not that it would, but hypothetically speaking - he could definitely stop me." His red eyes rolled up toward the ceiling as he thought it over. "Most definitely. Maybe like ninety-six percent definitely."

"Not helping," Danny mumbled, shooting a glare at Dan after catching the nervous exchange between his parents.

"I just meant that if a situation ever occurred where you needed to fight me, you would be able to beat me." Dan frowned like he wasn't understanding the problem.

"Who's up for spaghetti?" his father said, laughing forcibly in his attempt to shift the conversation to something perhaps a little less worrisome than his son fighting a deadly mercenary. "I sure could go for some spaghetti."

Danny took a deep breath as he slid off the examining table. This dinner was sure to go well. He held Dan back when his parents headed for the stairs. "I want my parents to get to know you," he told Dan when they were alone. "Yes, I mean all of you. But maybe we should ease them into some stuff. I just don't want them to be scared of you before they even know you."

"I told you I've never done the whole meet the parents thing." Dan shrugged with a helpless frown. "But I'm guessing this means no talk about my job as a mercenary."

"That's probably for the best." Danny nodded. "And probably nothing about being overly destructive." Danny turned the mercenary's hand over, staring at it almost like he expected it to burst into flames. "Do you think this power has something to do with the, um, you know?"

"You mean the whole explody flame near death thing?" Dan frowned at his hand. His fingers curled, closing his hand into a fist. "You'd probably know better than I do."

"It seems like a sound theory." Danny shrugged a shoulder.

"What's taking the two of you so long?" his mother called from the kitchen.

"Yeah! I want to taste this mean spaghetti you talked about," his father added.

Danny laughed, shaking his head. "We better get up there." He grabbed Dan's hand and pulled him up the stairs.


	79. Chapter 79

"No way!" Tucker gawked, his mouth hanging open. "You had a mercenary over for dinner? With your _parents_?"

"It wasn't a planned thing," Danny spluttered out with his shoulders hunching up. "We were at the hospital to stop Walker from killing Valerie's dad."

"Who is awake now?" Sam questioned with only a hint of relief in her eyes at that news. Even if she didn't get along with Valerie, Sam wasn't the type who wished things like death of a family member on someone else. It was good for the whole town to have Mr. Gray back in office as the Police Chief.

Danny nodded. "I'm really glad Valerie doesn't have to suffer seeing her father in a coma anymore." He didn't even want to imagine either of his parents lying in a hospital bed. "Anyway, things didn't go entirely as planned, and well, I thought taking Dan back to my house would be a good idea. We couldn't know what kind of side effects, if any, Walker's device had on us, so I wanted my parents to give us a look over. And after they overheard Dan and I let slip about our relationship, well, they decided to have Dan stay for dinner."

"That had to be awkward," Tucker said, cringing at whatever his imagination came up with for how the dinner went.

"Yeah," Danny said as he glanced away, "it was, um, uncomfortable. My parents kept asking him all these personal questions." In a way, he was happy to learn more about Dan, but he worried his parents would push too much on topics the mercenary may not want to discuss. "I'm just glad my parents didn't break out the baby pictures."

"This time." Sam smirked when Danny felt a blush rising to his cheeks. "Trust me. They will break out the baby pictures and embarrass you mercilessly. It's what parents do."

Danny groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. He did not want Dan seeing his baby pictures. Some of them were horribly embarrassing. With a sigh, he dropped his arms to his sides. "I guess it can't be helped. He's probably going to see them eventually." He frowned as he stared at his friends. "I don't have to be around for that though, do I?"

"Parents always wait until you're around to break out the baby pictures." Sam patted him on the shoulder, but the action offered little comfort to him.

Danny grunted, knowing there was little he could do to avoid the embarrassment. "Well, the more important thing is that with Walker out of the picture, we'll hopefully be a Guys in White free town again soon."

"My dad should be talking to the mayor about that right about now."

Danny jumped when Valerie spoke. He spun around with his hand over his heart. "You need a bell or something. How do you walk so quietly?"

"It helps when sneaking up on the bad guys." Valerie shrugged then glanced over Danny's shoulder at his friends, who Danny imagined were either confused or not pleased to see the A Lister invading their private conversation.

"Aren't you worried about what your _friends_ will think if they see you hanging around with us?" Sam asked, folding her arms.

"Kwan'll have my back." Valerie shrugged like the question was irrelevant. "Anyway, I just wanted to come and check for myself to see how you were," she said with her attention solely on Danny. "After what happened at the hospital, well, you and your boyfriend didn't look too steady."

"Yeah, my parents gave us a clean bill of health. No side effects to worry about." Danny grinned reassuringly. "Uh, but what about you? You were a bit wobbly after that."

"Yeah, it just caused a little disorientation, but otherwise I'm fine. Oh, and they managed to catch Walker. He tried rushing out the front door - Idiot," Valerie muttered under her breath, "but the security guards were ready for him. About five of them tackled him at once, so when Officers Jenkins and Eaton got there, he was under a dog pile and shouting about being temporary Police Chief and demanding to be released." She rolled her eyes.

"We miss all the good stuff," Tucker complained in disappointment.

"Sometimes it can be as exciting as it sounds," Valerie said, "but sometimes it's pretty scary being in the middle of all that stuff. I wouldn't go rushing into this just because you think it's going to be fun."

"That's not what I-"

"Are you still going to be running around doing this stuff now that your dad's awake?" Sam wondered.

"My dad wants to have a whole talk about that." Valerie's mouth pursed slightly, like she wasn't eager to have that conversation. "I'd like to keep catching the bad guys, but I did start this whole thing just to find out the truth about what happened with my dad. And I did that. But hey," she punched Danny's arm, "if you need help, you can always call on me."

Danny bobbed his head. "I'll keep that in mind. Though," he raked his hand through his hair as he frowned, "now that Walker is dealt with and the Guys in White should be leaving town, that just leaves me with finding out who killed Jazz." He still planned to help stop criminals or if any new ghosts popped up to cause trouble. "I stopped a jewelry store robbery-"

"Oh yeah! Star mentioned something about that," Valerie said. "She was pretty shaken up after it."

"First that thing at the Nasty Burger. Now this?" Sam frowned. "She seems to be having awful luck."

"She couldn't stop talking about how Phantom swooped in to save them though." Valerie shook her head with a small crooked smile. "I think her boyfriend was getting jealous listening to her."

"It wasn't really anything special," Danny mumbled, tugging at an ear as his cheeks turned pink. "They weren't really that much of a challenge. But right after I snuck out the back of the store, I ran into Skulker."

"Him again?" Tucker asked with a concerned look.

"Do I know who that is?" Valerie glanced around at the three friends.

"I tried to rescue some guy from him before but turns out they were working together to lure me into a trap." Danny sighed, hanging his head. He didn't need to hear anyone say anything about him being rash or having a hero complex. "I've already been told enough times I need to be more cautious, but sometimes I can't help it. I want to help people. I don't always stop to think, 'hey, this could be a trap!' But I'm working on that. Skulker's name was the only one I got. The other guy didn't let his name slip. But he has this shape shifting ability. My parents ran into them a little while ago, and my dad had to fight him after he turned into a tiger."

Valerie cringed. "And he got away without being killed?"

"Hey!" Danny protested. "My dad may be goofy sometimes, but he can totally handle himself in a fight."

"But did your parents learn anything from them?" Tucker wanted to know.

"They managed to grab something off them, but they're still working on figuring out what exactly it means." Folding his arms, Danny pressed his mouth thin in thought. If they could translate the text on their piece of the torn scroll, maybe it would be a clue to understanding what this organization wanted. He still thought there was something about what he saw on the paper trying to push through his brain, but it kept slipping through his fingers when he thought he was about to grasp it.

"I think I'm glad my thing was a lot less difficult to figure out." Valerie frowned, hooking her thumbs around the straps of her bag. "Because your thing sounds like a headache."

"I actually thought Dan would be a lead, but like everyone else, his memory of what happened to him and who did it isn't very good." Danny shook his head. "I just don't get it. Why make ghosts? What purpose is there in that? I just want some answers already."

"Will you leave me alone already?"

They all turned their heads when they heard Paulina's voice from down the hall. Paulina ripped her arm free from the hold of another student, a jock Danny assumed from his bulky build. Danny didn't recognize the man though, so he doubted the jock played football, which was the sport Danny mostly followed when it came to school sporting events. Perhaps he was a wrestler.

"Hey, I aced that oral report we had to do," he snapped back. "You just stood there looking pretty. You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you?" Paulina demanded, rage burning in her eyes. "Every time I tried to say _my_ part of the report, you shushed me and kept going. You didn't _let_ me talk. And this is exactly why I preferred doing the report on my own. I didn't need you to do anything for me. So I'm _not_ going to be thanking you for anything. Besides that more than _half_ of the stuff you rambled on and on about wasn't even accurate!"

He sneered at her. "You think you know better than me? I did everything right."

"Ugh! This is why I handed in my written report after class and talked to Ms. Benson about it. I don't want to fail because of _your_ idiocy." Paulina jabbed a finger into his chest.

Valerie launched down the short distance of the hall the second she saw the man raising his arm. She slammed into him with enough force to knock him onto the ground, and the only reason she didn't crash to the ground with him was because Paulina grabbed hold of her arms and helped to steady her. Danny and his friends jogged to the scene a second after her.

"Oh, sorry," Valerie said sarcastically as the man sat up, rubbing his arm. "I didn't see you there."

"You little-"

"What?" Valerie cut him off, looking ready to fight the man to the death to protect her friend. "What were you going to call me?"

"What is going on here?" Lancer demanded, and Danny could see Valerie gulp, though she tried to hide the panic in her eyes.

"These stupid-" The wrestler paled when he saw the fury on Lancer's face and decided to change his response. "I was just trying to have a civil conversation-"

Danny, his friends, and Valerie all laughed humorlessly at the answer. The wrestler scowled at them.

"It's nothing, Mr. Lancer," Paulina assured the teacher with an innocent smile. "We were just talking, and Phil tripped. But we were just about to leave, so we'll be doing that now." Paulina hooked her arm around Valerie's arm and tugged her friend down the hall before Lancer decided to give them all detention.

"Uh, yeah, we were leaving too." Danny nodded, glancing at his friends who agreed. He hurried down the hall with Sam and Tucker walking alongside him. When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw Lancer glaring down at Phil, who shrank away as the color drained from his face.

"I would not want to be Phil right now," Tucker said when they were far enough down the hall not to be heard by Lancer or Phil.

"I'm not usually one to defend Paulina," Sam's mouth pursed, "but I was tempted to go punch that guy if Valerie hadn't knocked him over."

"I can't believe how that guy was acting." Danny frowned, his nose wrinkling with disgust. He definitely wouldn't want to be Phil's partner on any school project or report, and he hoped Ms. Benson read over Paulina's written report and graded her solely on that. From their conversation, it sounded like Phil horribly botched the oral report, and Danny wouldn't want Paulina failing because of that jerk. "But anyway, school's over. Let's go do something."

Tucker groaned. "Please don't say homework study session. Please don't say homework study session," he pleaded, head tilting up like he was praying to the ceiling.

"Something tells me a study session is needed," Sam said, the corner of her mouth twitching. Though she tried to keep a serious expression, her violet eyes twinkled with some amusement.

"No!" Tucker hung his head, shoulders slumping, and Danny couldn't help laughing at his friend's reaction.

"It won't be that bad, Tuck." Danny patted Tucker on the shoulder. "And think of it this way. The sooner we just buckle down and do the studying, the sooner we can kick back and relax. The more you complain and slack off, the longer it will seem."

"You make that sound so easy," Tucker muttered.

"Are you forgetting how I used to slack off on homework and complain about it?" Danny stared flatly at him. "I still sometimes want to groan and bang my head against something, but I just push past that and force myself to focus on getting done what needs to be done. If that doesn't work, try to pretend you're working on something for robotics club."

"It would be a lot more interesting if it was all for robotics club." Tucker sighed. "Why can't all my class just focus on robotics? I'd be sailing through school if it was like that."

"That or sewing," Sam piped up, fighting back a smirk.

"You're not supposed to mention that out loud!" Tucker's face darkened with embarrassment.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You're mean with a needle and thread. I've even thought about learning to sew," Danny admitted. "That way I don't have to keep running to you every time my suit gets a tear."

"Hey, I'm happy to help with it." Tucker shrugged. "At least I feel like I've accomplished something with that. I haven't figured out anything with all that data you gathered."

"We'll figure it out eventually," Danny said as they passed the A Listers, who loitered at their lockers. They were heading for the front entrance of the school when a cold chill ran down his spine. He pushed his friends to the ground with a shout of, "Get down!" A second later, an arrow pierced through the air and embedded itself in a locker, nearly impaling Dash in the eye if it had been a few inches to the right. When he lifted his head, Danny gulped, dread filling him as he mumbled, "Skulker."


	80. Chapter 80

What was Skulker doing at their high school? Danny, of course, knew the man was working with that mustached, shape shifting ghost and both them apparently wanted Phantom out of their way. But why would Skulker be at the _high school_? It didn't make sense. Unless - Ice settled over Danny as he gulped with dread. Unless Skulker had somehow tracked Phantom to this high school. But how? He never saw Skulker tracking him after their encounters. He couldn't possibly know that Danny was Phantom.

"You two need to get out of here," Danny whispered to his friends. He hated to fight in school, but at least most of the students already went home for the day. Glancing behind him, he saw Valerie trying to nudge her friends to safety. Dash looked pale after the near miss of the arrow.

"Phantom!" Skulker shouted. "I know you're here." He walked down the hall, not even looking in Danny's direction.

Danny grabbed his friends' arms, and they scrambled down the hall and darted around the corner into a side hall. "How does he know I'm here?" He peered around the corner, watching Skulker's progress down the hall.

"Danny, we can help," Sam said with her expression set in stubborn determination. She wanted to fight alongside him.

"Sam, you can't." Danny shook his head. He couldn't allow his friends to jump into a fight and risk hurting themselves.

Since they were alone in the hall, Danny took the opportunity to change into his suit. It may not be the wisest decision to change right out in the open, but he couldn't waste time searching for a decent spot to change unseen. He needed to get out there and stop Skulker from doing any harm to the school or any remaining students and staff.

"Maybe I can lure him away from the school," Danny told his friends. "Then at least no one here will get hurt." He felt cold thinking about how close Dash came to being shot in the head by that arrow. Nothing Dash ever did to him in the past made Danny wish any kind of death on the jock. He certainly didn't want Dash's death to be because of him, because some crazy man was after him.

The cold sensation wasn't simply from remembering what happened a moment ago in the hall. Danny shoved his friends farther down the side hall seconds before a hole blasted through the corner. His heart hammered somewhere in the vicinity of his throat. Skulker was being reckless with his attacks. If Danny didn't do something, Skulker would definitely hurt someone.

"You can't hide from me," Skulker said, his mouth stretching into a cruel smirk as he rounded the corner to face off against the three teenagers. "I'll always be able to find you." He held up his arm, coated in silver melted from shoulder to fingertips. On it, a screen flashed a small dot a few feet in front of Skulker, marking Danny's location.

"Go," Danny whispered urgently to his friends, his eyes widening in panic. If Skulker could track him down no matter where he was, then Danny couldn't be around his friends without putting them at risk.

"Wait!" Tucker grabbed onto Danny's shoulder. "That arm is robotic," he whispered. "I can hack into it if you give me some time. I might not be able to do much. But maybe I can mislead him and mess with it to interfere with him."

Danny glanced at his friend. Tucker's eyes shone with hard determination. Just like Sam, Tucker wanted to help Danny fight in any way he could. "All right," Danny replied. "Sam, go with him. I doubt there will be trouble, but just in case, Tucker should have some backup."

Sam frowned, not entirely liking the order. But she nodded. "Come on!" She jogged down the hall with Tucker trailing a step behind her.

"You want to fight me?" Danny pulled up his mask. "Then let's go."

Danny charged up an energy ball in his hand. Then he punched his fist forward, thrusting the energy ball at the man. Skulker swiped his arm in front of him, and the metal arm knocked away the energy ball, which smashed into the wall, leaving a dark mark and cracks in the plaster. Danny shifted back a step. How could this man toss aside his attack like it was nothing? Was it because of the metal arm? If he recalled correctly, every time his intangibility failed him, it was when Skulker held him with that arm. If Skulker was equipped with anti-ghost armor and weapons, Danny might be in trouble.

"Aren't you glad I suggested the arm?"

Danny spun around, anger curling in him when he spotted the mustached ghost.

"Let's hurry up and take him out of the equation." His mustache didn't hid the twisted smirk on his face. "Then we can get back to our search without any little nuisances getting in our way."

His ghost sense saved him from being caught by Skulker. Danny ducked before the man could seize him around the neck with his metal arm. In a crouch, he twisted around and fired a quick blast. They were too close for Skulker to react in time and knock aside the blast or dodge it. The energy ball struck him in the gut, and Skulker stumbled back with a grunt. Danny didn't have enough time to build up a decent attack, and he ground his teeth when he saw the bright green Mohawk man recovering immediately after taking the blast.

Behind him, Danny heard a ferocious roar. He snapped his head around to see the mustached man transformed into a lion, snarling with sharp fangs bared. The lion leaped at him. Danny shot to his feet and raced through the wall to avoid the attack. How was he supposed to fight both of them at once? One of them could change into any animal it wanted at will, and Skulker could deflect his attacks. Danny skidded to a halt in the middle of a room. After a glance around, he realized he had stopped inside Lancer's office.

But he shook his head, focusing back on the thought that occurred to him. The mustached man was a ghost. Thanks to Johnny and Kitty, Danny knew his parents' thermos invention worked and could trap ghosts inside it. Reaching for his bag, he fumbled at open air. He snapped his gaze back the way he came. He left his bag behind after he changed into his suit! Did he risk going back directly and meeting up with Skulker and the mustached man before he could reach his bag? His mouth pressed thin as he considered the option. It seemed smarter to circle around and hope he could get to his bag and grab the thermos before he ran into them. With the thermos, he could take out the shape shifting ghost then focus on dealing with Skulker, who seemed to still be human other than his anti-ghost metal arm.

The whole room grew cold, snapping Danny out of thoughts a second too late. The door exploded with enough force to throw Danny back into Lancer's desk. He dropped to the ground with a sharp pain lancing up his spine. Something wobbled then fell, whacking him on top of the head. He bit down on his tongue as he winced.

"I told you." Skulker grinned as he stood in the hole where the door to the office used to be. "You can't hide from me."

Danny glared darkly from behind his mask. This man _dared_ to come to his school and wreck Lancer's office! Danny grabbed whatever fell into his lap as he stood. "I wasn't trying to hide!" He lifted his arm, readying to throw the object when the flash of blue and pink made him stop. He stared at the long neck bottle with the rounded base. They only had a portion of the page and not a whole lot of the design was on their half, but he swore the base of the bottle looked like what was on the paper his father ripped away from the shape shifting ghost when his parents encountered him and Skulker. But why were they looking for this bottle? It was just something Lancer's sister found abroad and sent home as a Christmas gift for her brother. There was nothing special about it.

"Oh, this is too rich." Skulker's eyes lit up like Danny just gave him the greatest gift in the world. He held out his metal hand. "Hand over the bottle."

Danny might not have any idea why this bottle was so important to Skulker and his pal, but he knew better than to hand it over. "Now why would I do that?" He tossed the bottle from one hand to the other, watching as Skulker flinched like he feared Danny would drop the bottle and smash it into a thousand pieces. "It would be a shame if I-" Danny released his hold on the bottle.

"No!" Skulker shouted, lunging forward, but Danny caught the bottle and danced out of the way. Skulker slammed head first into the desk.

"Hm! This seems to be an awfully important bottle." Danny grinned when Skulker glowered furiously at him. "You know what? I think it's better if I just keep hold of this. It seems rather breakable, and you seem to have the habit of breaking things." Danny nodded his head toward what was left of the door, which was just a hinge dangling useless.

"Give it to me, whelp!" Skulker threw a punch with his anti-ghost metal arm.

Danny jerked back a step to avoid being hit, but Skulker's arm swung around and punched himself in the face. The man fell over backward, landing on the ground with a loud thud. His face was a bloody mess, and nose was definitely broken. Danny winced at the sight.

"Thank you, Tucker." Danny slipped out of the office, hoping Skulker would stay knocked out long enough for the police to reach the school. When he stepped into the hall, he nearly ran right into someone. After a moment of helping to steady each other, Danny gasped, "Valerie!"

She was decked out in her Huntress suit with her staff out and ready for fighting. "I sent a message to Officer Jenkins that something was happening here. But care to fill me in on what exactly is happening?"

"Originally, they wanted to take me out," Danny answered. "Though now their priority seems to be this." He showed her the bottle.

"Isn't that Lancer's? Why would they be after that?"

Danny shrugged helplessly. "No idea. And I also don't know how long this guy," he pointed back at Lancer's office, "is going to stay knocked out. He seems to have some way to track me. You take it." He held the bottle out to her.

Valerie peeked through the hole blasted doorway to Lancer's office. "What exactly did you do to him?"

"Tucker hacked his arm to punch himself in the face."

"Is that why he's giving himself the middle finger?"

"Uh, yeah. Sam's probably smacking him over the head right now for playing around." Danny smiled in amusement. "So you'll take this and keep it safe?" He nudged the bottle at her. "They won't be able to track you like they can me."

"I still don't get all of this, but okay." Valerie placed her hand over the end of the bottle.

Before she could take it though, they were both knocked off their feet. Danny hit the ground with a grunt. When he looked up, he paled, seeing the mustached man standing over them with a wide grin on his face. Danny ground his teeth. The ghost must have shape shifted into a small bug and kept watch over everything happening, choosing a good moment to reveal himself and steal the bottle.

"I guess you proved useful in the end," he said, his grubby fingers running over the curves of the bottle like he was appraising a priceless treasure. "I suppose I should spare you as a thanks for hand delivering this to me."

Danny climbed to his feet, and Valerie followed suit, holding her staff in her hands. He caught a flicker of movement behind the man and glanced down the hall where he caught a flash of ebony hair before the person disappeared back around the corner. "So," he snapped his gaze back to the shape shifting ghost, "you have your dumb bottle now. How about you leave already?"

The man snorted, amusement in his eyes as he faced Danny. "You're not even remotely curious? Well, I suppose it won't matter if I tell you anything or not. This will all seem like a dream shortly. You won't even remember poor little Jazz."

"What?" Danny shouted, his hands burning as energy gathered around his fists. "What do you know of Jazz?"

He smirked. "I thought you would have figured that out already." His eyes danced with a mad light. "I'm the one who killed her!"

Danny released a roar of anger and anguish as he fired a blast at the man. The ghost shifted into a hawk, flying up toward the ceiling with the bottle in his claws. The hawk seemed to chuckle at him, only increasing Danny's anger. Launching into the air, Danny sliced his hand across his chest as he created a blade of energy extending from his hand. The energy slashed at the hawk like a sword, cutting through a few tail feathers, but the hawk managed to avoid any serious injury.

"Dan- Phantom!" Valerie shouted, trying to get his attention, but Danny was too focused on attacking the shape shifting ghost who killed his sister.

Danny fired another blast, scorching a section of the lockers when the hawk dodged him again. "Stop running, you chicken!" He moved to follow the hawk when Valerie appeared before him. She slammed him into the lockers, using her staff to hold him there.

"Calm down!" Valerie shouted, struggling to keep Danny from chasing the shape shifting ghost. "He's just trying to provoke you. If you fight angry, you'll make reckless mistakes. You could hurt an innocent bystander. Think about how _Jazz_ would feel."

The last comment was like an icy nail being driven right between his eyes. The anger drained out of Danny as he slumped against the lockers. Valerie was right. Danny would never forgive himself if someone got hurt because of his own stupid recklessness.

"Thanks," Danny said, and Valerie stepped back, lowering her staff. He couldn't see her face behind the visor of her helmet, but he liked to think she smiled as she nodded her head.

"Lost your fight already?" The hawk transformed back into the mustached man. He smirked as he held the bottle up in one hand. "Your sister is dead, and you can't even avenge her for longer than two seconds? She must be so disappointed in you."

Danny stepped in front of Valerie. He was angry at the ghost's words, but he refused to let it consume like it did a moment again. "You don't know anything about my sister. I don't know why you killed her, but I'm not going to let you get away with it."

The ghost threw back his head and laughed, the sound echoing through the silent hall. "You want to know why?" He waved the bottle in his hand. "This was always the end game. To be honest, I never thought I'd get my hands on it. I heard stories. The dream ghost was ever so helpful there, but he was always careful never to divulge its exact location. Once he figured out what I was up to, I knew I had to do something about him. He could have ruined all my plans. So I had to trap him. Not an easy task. But nightmares proved helpful."

"And what exactly is so special about that bottle?" Valerie questioned. "And what does it have to do with killing Jazz?"

"I was getting there," the ghost snapped, fury splashing across his face at the interruption. "All of you foolish children, with your interrupting and never listening!" He stamped his foot like a four year old throwing a tantrum because he wasn't allowed to have what he wanted. "She never did what I wanted!" His hand tightened around the neck of the bottle, squeezing until his knuckles whitened.

Then the ghost caught himself, before sprouting out anymore comment that neither Danny nor Valerie understood. He coughed into his other hand as he recovered from his outburst.

"As I was saying before I was so _rudely_ interrupted." The ghost shot a withering glare at Valerie, who merely raised her hands. Danny suspected she rolled her eyes behind her visor. "I thought by killing Jazz, I would instill enough desire in you to want to bring her back from the dead. Spectra," he then muttered to himself, "that cursed witch," before continuing, "failed to do her job of nurturing that desire." He ground his teeth, grumbling too low for Danny to hear him. "Another wasted effort, like so many before it. But no matter." Smugness practically radiated from him. "I have what I need now. A way to change the world. Re-imagine it the way I want it. And all I have to do is make a wish."


	81. Chapter 81

Danny didn't quite understand the ghost. Make a wish? Change the world? Was this ghost insane? But he swallowed, his heart skipping when the shape shifting ghost mentioned the dream ghost and trapping it with nightmares. His throat felt tight, and he didn't like what went through his mind in that moment. Was this the warning the dream ghost meant when it showed him the Earth then an explosion? Danny shook his head. If this was what the ghost meant, then he needed to stop whatever this ghost was about to do.

Danny turned his head and exchanged a glance with Valerie. They nodded to each other then charged forward at the ghost. Mr. Mustache rubbed a stubby fingered hand over the rounded base of the blue bottle with pink accents. Danny and Valerie almost reached him. They were only a few steps away. Danny drew back an arm, his fist glowing with ecto energy. Valerie raised her staff, readying a strike. Then a force of energy knocked them on their backs for a second time. They skidded over the tiled floor, putting several feet between them and Mr. Mustache.

Laughter filled the hall. At first, Danny thought it was Mr. Mustache being even crazier than he already was. But when he sat up, Danny gulped. From the mouth of the bottle rose a wispy blue tail. A shiny pink belt settled over wide hips. Her strapless bralet matched the same pale blue of the wispy tail with a strip of pink trim along the top. Long ebony hair draped over her shoulders, her bangs falling to cover half her face. His flesh matched closer to Mr. Technus' shade of green rather than the paler shade Danny had.

"At last!" she cried out to the ceiling, arms raised over her head. "I'm finally free of that cursed bottle!"

Below her, Mr. Mustache chuckled, the sound growing steadily louder with a sinister tinge to it. "Grant me my wish!"

She dropped her gaze, landing her visible red eye on Mr. Mustache. Her nose wrinkled as a look of utter disgust flashed across her face. "A man?" She shifted back from him, half turning away with an arm raised like she was trying to protect herself. "You dare to summon me?" Her voice was filled with outrage.

Mr. Mustache bristled at the question. "I am the one who controls the bottle!" He shook it at her, almost threateningly. "You will obey me and grant my every wish."

"I!" Her face burned with fury, her cheeks darkening several shades of green. Her whole body shook like it would explode with her suppressed anger as any second.

A figure shot of nowhere, racing at the shape shifting ghost. In one swift moment that left everyone stunned for words, the bottle was snatched out of Mr. Mustache's hand, leaving him grasping at empty air. The person jogged a few steps down the hall before stumbling over her feet and crashing to the ground on her side with the bottle hugged tightly to her chest.

"Paulina!" Danny jumped in surprise as Valerie called out the other woman's name with him. Neither of them could believe what Paulina just did, or if Paulina even realized the situation. Somewhere in the back of his head, Danny understood now why he caught a glimpse of hair earlier. Paulina must have come back, for some reason, seen what was going on, and quickly ducked out of sight to avoid calling attention to her presence. But now Paulina had put herself in danger.

"You!" Mr. Mustache shouted, pointing at Paulina. His face twisted, turning an interesting shade of purple like his rage was cutting off his air supply. "Hand over the bottle." He held out his hand, and his expression added a silent threat of, "Or else you're going to suffer."

The female ghost hovered where she was, watching the scene. She seemed to be in a slightly better mood after the bottle was stolen from Mr. Mustache, but she didn't move to act on anything. Was she waiting to see who the final owner of the bottle would end up being?

"Never!" Paulina shouted back at the ghost. She sat up, keeping the bottle tucked close to her body. Her green eyes glared fiercely and defiantly at Mr. Mustache.

"How dare you!" Mr. Mustache threw an energy blast at Paulina.

Danny shot in front of Paulina with his arms raised before him. His shield appeared in an instant, deflecting the energy blast. Mr. Mustache scowled and cursed under his breath. Danny kept the shield up, but he couldn't do anything to attack Mr. Mustache if he had to protect Paulina.

"You keep her safe," Valerie told him. "I'll deal with our sleazy friend over there." She held out her arm, and a ray gun sprung from the wristwatch she wore. A small burst of pink energy fired from the ray gun. Mr. Mustache leaped into the air, reverting again to hawk form to avoid the attack. Valerie charged forward, chasing after the fleeing hawk as she fired at him. A blast struck the hawk in its back. It dropped out of the air, but before hitting the ground, the hawk shifted into a lion. A roar echoed through the hall as the lion leaped to attack. Valerie brought up her staff, catching it in the lion's mouth before it could go for her throat. Its sharp claws dug into the staff, and they wrestled until Valerie managed to throw off the lion. In the next moment, they were gone, disappearing down a different hall as their fight continued.

Danny didn't relax simply because the main fight vanished from his sight. Tearing his gaze from the corner where Valerie disappeared, he turned to the remaining ghost. She floated in the middle of the hall with one arm crossing her chest as she held her chin with the other hand. What he could see of her face looked thoughtful, like she was trying to understand everything happening around her.

"Who are you?" Danny asked, watching the ghost closely. She looked innocent, but that didn't mean she was harmless. He didn't want to automatically assume the worst in ghosts, but he needed to be cautious in case a ghost turned out to be violent.

The ghost stared down at him, the single visible red eye glaring at him. Then with a sniff, she turned her head sharply away as she folded her arms, effectively saying without words that she wouldn't speak to him.

Danny's shoulders drooped as confusion buzzed about his head. He glanced toward Paulina behind him, but she frowned, seeming as baffled as he felt. "Maybe," he said quietly, "you should try."

"Me?" Paulina gasped with her eyes so wide the whites showed all around her irises. "But what can I do? I don't even know what's going on!"

"You stole that bottle away from the bad guy," Danny pointed out. "Which was pretty smart, even if it was a bit reckless." His gaze darted briefly toward the ghost then back to Paulina. "And I think she might be more willing to speak to you than to me."

Paulina stared hesitantly at the ghost hovering in the air beyond Danny's shield. With a nervous gulp, she rose to her feet. "H-Hi." She waved, and the ghost turned her head slightly, casting a one eyed glance at the A Lister holding the bottle. "I'm Paulina. Who might you be?"

The ghost didn't respond right away, merely gazing at Paulina like she was trying to judge if the A Lister was worthy. Then she unfolded her arms. She placed one hand on her hip and the other hand to her chest. "I am Desiree."

Danny waited, expecting perhaps a monologue of some sort. It seemed like it would fit, but maybe he read too many comics in his life and just assumed in a situation like this the other party would monologue after introducing themselves. When the ghost said nothing more, Danny opened his mouth but thought better of it. He nudged Paulina gently, encouraging her to continue a dialogue with Desiree.

"That's a nice name," Paulina said stiffly, her nerves getting the better of her. Danny would never have asked her to be in this position, but currently Desiree only seemed willing to speak to Paulina. "What, um-" Paulina glanced to him for help, but Danny shrugged, turning his palms outward. She frowned as she turned back to the ghost. "What is it you want?"

Desiree blinked, clearly puzzled by the question. "It's never been about what _I_ want."

"I'm sorry." Paulina's brow furrowed with her confusion. "Then what is it about?"

Desiree huffed, her breath lifting her bangs for a brief second to show her entire face. "I won't go into all the boring details." She waved her hand like she was brushing them aside. "Some might think I lived in the lap of luxury just because I went from living on the streets to living in the palace. But the palace was its own prison. Blah, blah, blah." She pantomimed talking by opening and closing her hand. "I died. When I became a ghost, I discovered I could grant the wishes of others. Any time I passed by someone who made a wish, I granted it. Oh, it was an intoxicating feeling! With every wish, I could feel myself growing stronger. There was always this sort of hollow emptiness in it, but the power was just too consuming and I was obsessed with getting more. Well, not everyone was happy with me granting their wishes." Her mouth pursed, and anger flashed in her red eye. "It's not _my_ fault their wishes didn't always turn out the way _they_ wanted them to. Didn't they ever learn to be careful what they wished for? You never know how it's going to turn out or what unforeseen consequences would come from the wish. In the end, a man stepped forward deciding it was his duty to put a stop to me. That," she growled, pointing at the bottle in Paulina's hands, "was his answer. He wished that I be forced to live in that confining bottle until a _master_ chose to give it a rub and release me from it. I was bound to grant any wishes the _master_ had."

"That's horrible!" Paulina gasped, outrage in her green eyes.

"I can kind of understand why he did it though," Danny mumbled. "Ow!" He rubbed his arm where Paulina smacked him. "I simply meant that having a ghost wandering around granting every wish she heard could be dangerous. You never know what type of person the wisher is going to be. They could be a killer or abuser or some other kind of criminal utilizing Desiree's ability to cause terrible things to happen. I only meant that thinking in that manner, I can understand why this man felt it necessary to do something about Desiree." He turned to face Desiree. "Of course, I also believe he went about it in a terrible way. Ghosts are driven by an obsession. In your case, it was granting wishes. You couldn't help it. But locking you away in a bottle and forcing you to obey a 'master' is a ridiculous answer to the problem."

Desiree's lip curled up in a vicious snarl. "What would you care?"

"Wait. Wait. Wait!" Paulina waved her free hand, standing between ghost and half ghost. "Please don't get angry with him. He's not an enemy here. Has he tried doing anything to hurt you? Has he tried to take your bottle from me and use it to control you? No, because he wants to help and protect people. Even ghosts."

Desiree glared like she could melt Danny into a gooey puddle of ectoplasm on the floor. Then she rolled her eye to ceiling, muttering a prayer for patience under her breath. "I'll speak to you only because the Lady Paulina trusts you."

"Oh. No, no!" Paulina shook her head. "You don't have to call me Lady or anything like that. Paulina is fine."

Desiree shrugged. "If that is what you wish."

"No wishes!" Paulina looked alarmed. "I don't want to be your master or anything like that." Her comment confused Desiree, whose brow creased.

"I don't know what that ghost wanted to wish for, but it's a good thing you got the bottle away from him," Danny said, shuddering when he remembered the dream ghost's warning.

"Yeah, but-" Paulina frowned with her gaze on the blue bottle. "Phantom, this came from the office of one of the teachers here. Isn't that - I don't know - a little coincidental?"

Danny stared at her as things slowly clicked into place, like puzzle pieces finally aligning after a frustrating struggle. "Oh! OH!" His eyes grew wide behind his mask. "That - Oh!"

"What? What is it?" Paulina asked, flustered in her confusion.

"Oh, that makes sense now!" Danny raked a hand under his hood and through his white hair. "Lancer's sister didn't simply _happen_ upon that bottle to send to her brother. Someone made sure she would find it. Maybe they even suggested she gift it to her brother all so it would end up in Lancer's office at the right time for all of this," he spread his hands out to his sides, "could happen." He laughed, perhaps with a touch of madness to it, but he couldn't believe how obvious the answer seemed right at that moment.

"Who?" Paulina slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Stop leaving me out in the dark here!"

"You could wish for him to tell you everything," Desiree suggested.

"No!" Danny pointed a finger at the ghost. "She doesn't need to do that." He turned to Paulina. "There's this ghost that kind of knows about things that are going to happen. He tries not to interfere with the living world, but on occasion, he sees something that needs a subtle guiding hand and steps in to alter things to go in a way that doesn't lead to complete annihilation of the world."

"Are you talking about Clockwork?" Desiree asked curiously.

"You know him?" Danny blinked in surprise.

"He appeared to be just before my centuries long nap in that cursed bottle." Desiree shrugged, flicking back a lock of her long ebony hair. "He said he was sorry I would have to be stuck in that bottle for so long, but if I could wait it out, I would be free. I thought he was a bit crazy, but there wasn't much I could do about it once I was stuck in the bottle."

Danny perked up, snapping his gaze to Paulina. "But he wasn't lying! What he said can happen! Everything has fallen into place just like Clockwork saw it happening."

"But how-" Paulina's eyes grew wide. "Oh! Because I have the bottle!" She grinned as Danny nodded. Taking a deep breath, she faced Desiree. "I wish for you to be free of this bottle, to be your own person and never obey a 'master' again. Oh! And I wish for you to only grant the wishes of your choosing instead of being forced to grant every single wish you hear." She glanced at Danny with an uncertain biting of her lower lip.

Danny nodded. "That's a good wish."

Despite her stunned expression, Desire waved a hand before her, "As you-"

"NO!"


	82. Chapter 82

Danny twisted around at the shout. The mustached ghost came barreling down the hall toward them. His face was purple and twisted with rage. Halfway toward them, the ghost shifted into a cheetah, sprinting another few steps before he leaped with his claws out and fangs bared. Danny fired an energy blast. It caught the cheetah in the chest. The ghost went down, hitting the ground several feet from them. He reverted back to human form, grunting and rubbing his chest where he was struck.

"-Wish," Desiree continued to say like nothing happened to interrupt her, "so shall it be."

She snapped her fingers, the sound reverberating through the hall. The pressure felt like someone jammed cotton swabs into Danny's ears. Paulina gasped, jerking her hands back when the lamp glowed. Lines formed over the blue glass, hot white light seeping through the cracks. Then with a painful popping sound, the bottle exploded, Danny jumping between Paulina and the bottle to shield her. But he didn't find his chest embedded with tiny shards of sharp glass. Instead, he lowered his gaze to find a pile of glittering pale blue dust sprinkled with bits of pink. The pressure dissipated, allowing Danny to hear normally again. Desiree gazed down the hall with the light of amazement gleaming in her eyes, though nothing seemed to change after the wish was granted.

"Fools!" screamed the shape shifting ghost as he climbed to his feet. "Have you any idea what you've done? I'm going to make you suffer!" He dropped to his hands and knees. His body bulged and shifted, growing bigger as fur sprouted over his body. His hands changed into large paws with claws that looked like they could gut Danny in a single swipe. The bear pulled back its lips in a snarl.

"I could really use my thermos right now," Danny mumbled, trying to think of how to fight a bear. His energy blasts weren't doing much damage against the shape shifting ghost. What could he do with this energy that would work against it? "Paulina, get out of here!" Danny placed himself between Paulina and the bear. "Desiree, you don't have to listen to me, but I don't want you getting hurt either."

Danny put up a shield as the bear attacked. Claws clashed against the green wall of ectoplasm. Snarling and growling, the bear beat on the shield until cracks formed under the barrage of attacks. Danny glanced back over his shoulder to see Paulina pulling Desiree with her as she rounded the corner into a side hall. His shield shattered a second later, and Danny barely managed to turn intangible to avoid the bear's claws swiping at his chest. Stumbling back several steps, Danny threw punches, firing a blast of ecto energy with each punch. A few blasts hit the bear in the face, irritating him and causing him to shake his head. The other blasts were knocked away with the bear's large paws.

Danny gritted his teeth. He needed another tactic to beat this shape shifting ghost. Clockwork told him about the ecto energy ability because Danny would need it in the future. Clockwork also left out explaining all Danny could be do with the ability. There had to be other things he could do with it beyond shields and blasts. But what would be useful against a bear?

Danny dodged another swipe of the bear's paw, rolling out of the way when a thought hit him. His attacks weren't having much effect on the bear, but maybe fighting wasn't the answer. If he could restrain the ghost, it would buy him some time to grab the thermos. He hoped.

Placing a hand to the floor, Danny focused his energy there. The bear swung down with its paw. Danny rolled to the side, touching a hand to the lockers. When the bear swiped at him again, Danny bolted around to the other side and touched the ground with his hand. The bear continued to attack, but Danny evaded each attempt to rip through him with those sharp claws. He kept touching various spots on the ground and lockers and ceiling, repeating again and again as he kept the shape shifting ghost too distracted to realize what was happening. Stepping back, Danny grinned at his work. The bear snarled and struggled but couldn't break free from the chains made from Danny's ecto energy.

"Phantom!"

Danny turned then smiled when he saw Tucker and Sam jogging toward him. "That was awesome work with the arm," he told his friend. "I love you so much for that. You had great timing."

Tucker ducked his head, rubbing at his nose as his cheeks darkened. "Hey, what are friends for?"

"We thought this might come in handy though," Sam said, reaching into his bag to grab the thermos.

"Thanks! That's just what-" Danny froze, icy running up his spine. Then he shouted as two razor sharp fangs dug into his shoulder.

"Phantom!" his friends shouted in panic.

Danny grabbed at his shoulder then ripped the snake free and threw it to the floor. The snake's mouth was coated in bright green ectoplasm. Danny's face twisted with a mix of anger and disgust. Grabbing the thermos from Sam's hands, Danny uncapped it and pointed the end at the snake. When he hit the button, a white beam shot out of it. The snake attempted to slither away but wasn't fast enough to fight the draw of the thermos. It was sucked inside with a slurp, and Danny slammed the cap back onto it.

"Are you okay?" Tucker asked, his eyes wide with worry.

Danny winced, his shoulder stinging. "Yeah, it'll heal." He breathed out heavily, exhaustion hitting him. When he turned around, he saw the tangle of ecto energy chains that kept the shape shifting ghost prisoner for only a few moments. _Obviously_ , Danny berated himself. If the ghost could change into any animal, he would be able to shift into something which could easily slip through the gaps in the chains. But Danny's cage bought enough time for his friends to show up with the thermos. When he released his concentration on his energy, the chains vanished.

"Where is he?" Valerie shouted when she came limping into sight, brandishing her spear. Her suit was torn in a few spots, blood seeping from the scratches on her arm and leg. The visor of her helmet was cracked but still kept her face hidden.

"Right here," Danny told her as he held up the thermos. He plopped onto the ground and stared at the thermos in his hands. "I finally caught the one responsible for Jazz's death."

Valerie limped over to them and collapsed in front of him, leaning back on her arms. "I'm glad you finally know what happened."

"That ghost killed Jazz?" Tucker shouted, and Sam looked like she wanted to pop open the thermos so she could give the ghost a few punches.

"Uh, yeah, I don't really feel like telling the whole story at this exact moment though," Danny said, too mentally exhausted to explain what the ghost told him.

"So everything's over?"

Danny tensed, and he could feel the others around him doing the same. As one, they all turned to see Paulina peeking around the corner with a worried expression. Desiree floated in the middle of the hall, not worried about being spotted by anyone. Danny swallowed, but it felt like he had a giant jawbreaker lodged in his throat. How much did Paulina hear of what was said? Did she know who he was?

"Y-Yes," Danny said, nervousness buzzing through him like ants running up and down his skin as he stood. "Everything is safe now."

"Oh good," Paulina breathed out in relief as she stepped into the hall. "I was worried that jerk would seriously hurt you." She walked over to their group with Desiree trailing behind her.

"Uh, so, there's another ghost?" Tucker glanced at him with his brow creasing.

"Yeah, this is Desiree," Danny explained. "She's not a threat."

"Not anymore." Desiree shrugged. "I just want to live out my afterlife in peace now. Although," she turned to Paulina, "you granted me my freedom-"

"She did?" Sam gasped, eyes wide in shock.

"Yes," Paulina hissed at her, frowning, "I did."

Desiree coughed to get everyone's attention again. "As I was saying. You freed me, so I would like to offer you a wish in return."

"What?" Paulina blinked. Her mouth pursed in consideration. Being given the chance to ask for any wish was a powerful temptation. Her gaze drifted to Danny, and for a moment, he thought he knew what she would wish for. How much easier would her life be if she could be normal, if she wasn't in love with her best friend who already had a boyfriend? It seemed like an easy wish to make. Then Paulina smiled. "There's nothing I want."

"Are you sure?" Desiree was stunned, probably used to people throwing out wishes without thought of the consequences.

"I'm sure. I like who I am. I don't want to change anything."

Danny almost hugged Paulina for her answer. He remembered when he stumbled on her in the hall as she cried after talking with Ms. Spectra. It wasn't that long ago, though it felt like years passed with all that happened. But Paulina seemed like a much stronger person since then.

Valerie, on the other hand, had no reservations about hugging her friend. She threw her arms around the other A Lister and hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you didn't get hurt."

Paulina chuckled as she patted her friend's arm. "Well, I have you and Danny to thank for keeping me safe."

Danny winced. "Ah, you figured that out, huh?"

"Well, when I heard that jerk talking about killing Jazz and then the way you reacted," Paulina shrugged, "it seemed pretty obvious. But don't worry." She held a finger before her lips. "You kept my secret. I'll keep yours." She winked.

"What secret?" Tucker nudged his friend in the ribs.

"Nope." Danny lifted his head and looked away. "I can't answer that. It's not my secret to tell."

"So are you like buddies now?" Sam asked, her expression more confused than anything else.

"Not buddies. Just," Danny shrugged, "we talked."

"Phantom!"

They all turned around, and Danny had about two seconds before the blur of black and white slammed into him. Arms squeezed around him, pressing him against a hard, muscular chest. For a moment, the whole thing stunned him too much to understand what was happening. Then Danny chuckled and reached up to pat the man's shoulder.

"What are you doing here, Dan?" Danny asked as the mercenary released him from the tight embrace. Behind Dan, he caught sight of his parents jogging toward their group.

"Where is he?" Dan demanded seriously as he gripped Danny's shoulder.

"Where is who?" Danny's brow creased, puzzled by the question.

"Skulker!" Dan gave him a little shake. "Where is he? He's dangerous! Did he - You're bleeding!" He turned Danny's shoulder toward him for a better look.

"It's nothing serious. Just a small wound. It'll heal up pretty quick. I think it already stopped bleeding." Danny shrugged his uninjured shoulder. "And Skulker's back in Lancer's office. Still knocked out."

"I gave him a few more knocks," Tucker pretended to punch his jaw, "just to be sure."

"And," Valerie said when they all heard sirens growing closer to the school, "that would be the police I called."

"We expect the full details of what happened," his mother said, staring sternly at him like a mother ready to scold her child for misbehaving. Then she hugged him, his dad joining in. "But I'm so glad you're all right."

"And I'm totally going to want to know why you're showing up here with Dan," Danny said, wondering if he should be worried about that. "But Valerie and I probably shouldn't be here as Phantom and Huntress when those cops come in. Plus we should make sure Desiree gets somewhere safe. For a little while," he added to Desiree.

"We'll make sure the cops arrest Skulker," Sam said. "The rest of you can get out of here before they come storming in."

"Ah! I should go make sure my friends are okay." Paulina held a hand over her mouth. "When I saw Valerie wasn't with us after we ran away, I came to find you. But the others are still hiding. They don't that everything's safe now."

"You should go check in with them," Valerie told her. "I'll be there as soon as I change out of this." She gestured to her outfit.

"We can do a whole full disclosure of what happened later," Danny said, wanting to clear out of the school before the police arrived. "For now, let's get out of here."

It reminded Danny of when a team broke from a huddle in a football game. Paulina darted down the hall, heading off to find her friends. Valerie left to change into her civilian clothing. Sam and Tucker hurried to cut off the police and direct them to where Skulker laid knocked out in Lancer's office. Danny, his parents, Dan, and Desiree raced toward the back exit of the school so they would avoid crossing paths with the police coming in through the front entrance.

"Are you sure I can't go back there and knock Skulker around a few times?" Dan smacked a fist into his hand as they ran.

"I have a feeling you would do a bit more than knock him around a few times." Danny yanked open the back exit, holding it open for the others.

"Maybe," Dan grumbled, and Danny almost felt bad that the mercenary missed out on the fight. "But he would have totally deserved it."

"And I will be asking about that later when we sit down to talk about everything." Danny let the door close as he followed after his parents to their car.

His parents were already talking with Desiree, who had no problems discussing things with his mother, but she was more hesitant about answering anything asked by his father. At least, she wasn't cursing his name, though, so Danny thought it was a good step forward.

Before they reached the front of the school, Danny stopped them. "We'll meet you back home," he told his parents, holding out his hands to Dan and Desiree.

The mayor may have decided to kick out the Guys in White, but Danny didn't want to risk the remaining agents seeing Phantom hanging around his parents and get nasty ideas in their heads. His parents nodded, probably thinking the same idea, before they walked off alone to the car.

"Ready to fly?" Danny asked the two ghosts.

"I'm gonna get the hang of that one of these days," Dan said as he stepped in closer to Danny.

"I can fly just fine on my own." Desiree proved her comment by floating in the air, her wispy tail flicking absently.

Danny wondered if he was able to do that too, shift his legs into a tail, but the idea also seemed weird to him. How would that feel? Would he have that pins and needles feeling like when his leg fell asleep except his legs wouldn't actually be there? Maybe he could test it out later.

"But can you turn invisible?" Danny inquired.

Desiree opened her mouth to respond then frowned. "Actually, no."

"You just have to keep some kind of physical contact with me," Danny said. "Even just holding onto my pinkie would work." He held up his pinkie like they were about to make a pinkie swear. "And it's just until we get back to my house and are safely inside."

Desiree hesitated but eventually hooked pinkies with Danny. With Dan securely holding onto him, Danny shifted all three of them to invisible before taking to the sky to fly home. When they got there, he planned to pass out on the couch. Exhaustion already tugged at him, wearing away his energy, but he had enough left to get them home.


	83. Chapter 83

The sky was already dark when Danny woke up from his nap. He was curled up to one side on the couch, using the armrest as a pillow. His father sat on the other side with a deep, thoughtful expression on his face, perhaps taking mental notes about what was going on in the front room of their house. Danny sat up, rubbing at his eye as he glanced around the room. Sam and Tucker sat together in the reclining chair, since there wasn't much room on the couch between Danny and his father.

Danny was surprised to see Valerie leaning against the wall opposite him. She was dressed in her normal everyday clothing with her arms folded over her chest. In the middle of the room, Dan stood, without his mask on, in front of Desiree. Danny would have expected some kind of shocked freak out from his friends and Valerie, but he guessed he missed it during his nap because they all showed no reaction to seeing the scarred face and fiery hair. Blinking slowly, Danny tried to piece together what was happening. Everyone in the room seemed far more interested in the two ghosts than the fact that he was awake now.

_And that's a pretty egotistical thought_. Danny shook his head and focused his attention on the two ghosts.

Desiree's brow furrowed in concentration as she bit down on her lower lip. Nothing happened right away, and Danny scratched at the back of his head, wondering what they were all waiting to see. Then Desiree changed. Danny sat up, remembering seeing a similar transformation from Dan. Her skin turned dark brown, and her eyes shifted from red to almost so dark they looked black. But her transformation wasn't simply in physical appearance. Her style of clothing changed too. She wore tight jeans, surprising Danny when he realized she had legs now instead of the wispy tail. Her top was a pale pink, cropped short to show off a strip of her midriff. Over the pink top, she wore a puffy blue coat that cut off at the waist and had a white fur trim on the hood.

Desiree's eyes lit up as she smiled widely. "It worked!"

"I told you it was pretty easy once you knew how to do it." Dan nodded approval, perhaps a little proud of being able to teach Desiree something.

"Oh! That's such a cute coat!" Paulina squealed as she walked into the room, holding some mugs in her hands. Steam curled up from the mugs, and Danny could guess it was one of three things but his money would be on hot chocolate. "And your boots!"

"You have such interesting fashion in this time," Desiree admitted with a splash of color on her cheeks.

"It looks great on you!" Paulina smiled as she walked over to the two ghosts, offering them each a mug of hot chocolate.

Danny's mother walked into the front room a moment later with more mugs of hot chocolate for the rest of them. Happily accepting one of the mugs, Danny sipped at the hot chocolate, helping him to wake up a tad more. He looked around the room again as everyone enjoyed their own hot chocolate. It was nice and peaceful, if a little odd having Valerie and Paulina in his house.

"So," Danny spoke up, setting his mug down on the table, "what exactly did I miss?"

"Well," Tucker sat up straighter on the armrest of the chair, "when the police came, we showed them to Skulker. We told them he barraged into the school and started attacking students before Phantom showed up to knock him out."

"We figured out how he was tracking you too," Sam added as she reached over the other side of the chair. "We found this," she plucked something of the book of his Phantom costume, "tracker planted on you."

Danny flicked through his memories, trying to figure out how the tracker could have gotten on him. He groaned, bending forward as he rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes. "He must have planted it on me during our last fight. I didn't even think about checking for a tracker!"

"I should have crushed him when I had the chance," Dan muttered, his jaw clenching with fury dancing like flames in his red eyes.

"He's behind bars now," Danny said, "so let's leave it at that." He glanced to Paulina and Valerie who stood next to each other. "Why are you here? Just curious!"

"Well, we got the others and went to meet up with Sam and Tucker to talk to the police. We told them about how Skulker's arrow nearly hit Dash in the head," Valerie explained.

"Dash was pretty freaked out by that. I mean, it scared all of us, but obviously he's more shaken up than the rest of us," Paulina said. "After we told our versions of the event, we were allowed to leave. I wanted to come and check on Desiree." She shrugged a shoulder. "To make sure she'd be all right."

"And I thought it would be useful for Desiree to learn how to change her appearance so she could blend in with humans," Dan said, his mouth spreading in a wide grin. Danny bit back a chuckle at the pride he saw in the mercenary.

"Okay. So how did you know to come to the school?" Danny looked from Dan to his parents. "And why were you together?" His eyebrow arched, and he wondered if he should be worried.

"I want them to help me train," Dan admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced away, oddly embarrassed. "Since they know about ghosts, I thought they would be the best to ask for help."

"And I was working on looking through all that information you gathered," his father added. "I thought maybe something about it would help us understand what that ghost was after."

"Which is when I noticed the card!" Dan bent over and tugged something free from his boot. He held up the card, and Danny recognized it immediately as the card Kyle gave him when they were searching for Ember. "I had one just like it. But I noticed the address and date were different from what they had been."

"It had the school's address," his mother explained. "We didn't know exactly what it meant, but we thought we shouldn't risk sitting around trying to decipher the meaning when something could be happening at the school."

"Unfortunately, the whole thing was over by the time we got there." Dan pouted. When he glanced at the card, his expression became thoughtful. "Now it's reading your address."

"Oh!" Tucker's hand shot into the air. "Maybe it's to give the location of the ghost. You know, the one Danny caught in the thermos. It's like a locator for the people he handed it out to. He talked to Ember before, right? But she didn't go with him right away. He gave her the card so if she changed her mind, she would be able to find him."

It sounded like a good theory and made sense. Then it was Danny's turn to explain what happened with him. He told about his encounter with Skulker. Tucker filled in about his brilliant hacking job to knock out Skulker with his own robotic arm, which earned a snicker from Dan. Then Danny told them about the fight against the shape shifting ghost.

"Did anyone get a name from him?" Danny wondered out loud, but everyone shook their heads or shrugged.

Danny continued, recounting the conversation with Desiree, who seemed much friendlier now that she wasn't a prisoner to the bottle or slave to every wish she heard. Valerie added her fight with the ghost. She lost track of him when he threw her into a wall, stunning her long enough for him to give her the slip and circle back to where Danny, Paulina, and Desiree were. Danny described his idea of creating the cage of chains using his ecto energy, and he blushed when he caught an impressed look from Dan.

"If he hadn't been able to change into another animal, I would have had him trapped." Danny sighed, his shoulders slumping, but he couldn't feel too much like a failure after thinking of something like the chains and actually pulling off the idea. His shoulder barely hurt now, having healed while he napped. "But he's trapped in that thermos now."

"So," his father glared at the thermos sitting on the table, his expression unusually furious, "he's the one that killed Jazz?"

"Yeah." Danny winced when he saw his mother's face. She looked like she wanted to pop open the thermos and release the ghost so she could use him as a punching bag. "He was hoping of using my grief over losing Jazz to turn me into a ghost that can grant wishes like Desiree. Too bad for him, I already had my ghost powers at that point."

Dan was quiet for a while, a thoughtful expression set deep on his face. "It must have been the same for me. I can't remember much of it, but after seeing that sketch of him, I'm pretty sure he's the guy that approached me. Obviously, I was big failure in his eyes."

"That must be why Ms. Spectra targeted you," Sam told Tucker. "After you went to her, they must have thought your jealousy might be enough to create the same wishing ability as Desiree."

"I guess that's why she was so aggressive in trying to get me in her office," Valerie muttered. "Because of my dad."

"Do we even know where she is?" Paulina wondered.

"No," Danny sighed tiredly. He didn't want to think about hunting Ms. Spectra down after the whole fight with Skulker and the shape shifting ghost.

"But if she ever shows herself in another school, we'll know right away," Tucker assured them. "I have an alarm set up to alert me if she turns up."

"What if she uses a different name?" Valerie questioned, and Tucker frowned like she stomped on his moment.

"We'll keep an eye out for her," Danny promised. He didn't plan on letting Ms. Spectra get away after her part in everything that happened.

"I have a question." Paulina tentatively raised her hand. "Going off the assumption that you started being Phantom to find out who killed Jazz, does that mean you," she frowned, "won't be Phantom anymore?"

Danny sat back, not sure how to answer the question at first. He hadn't given any thought to what he would do after he discovered Jazz's killer. Then he lifted his head and smiled. "Phantom helps people. I can't turn my back on people when they need my help. And if any other ghosts pop up to stir up trouble, the police won't be able to stop them so they'll need my help."

Paulina smiled, happy with his answer. "I guess the last question of the day is," she turned to Desiree, "what do you plan to do now that you're free?"

"I-" Desiree's gaze drifted all around the room, looking at each person present. "Honestly, I have no idea. You'd think after spending centuries alone in a bottle, it would give me plenty of time to consider that question, but," she shrugged, "I guess I never really thought I'd ever be free. So why even entertain the idea?"

"And now you have all the time in the world to think about it," Dan told her. "Just don't do anything that will have Danny hunting you down though."

"Of course." Desiree rolled her one visible eye with a small, amused quirk of her lips. "It'll be nice to see the world. Traveling wasn't very feasible when I was alive, and after being tied to the bottle, I didn't have the freedom to go where I liked. But I think before that, I should probably catch up on what exactly has been going on in the world since I was in the bottle." She brushed back her long ebony hair, tucking it behind her ear though her bangs still kept half her face hidden. "There's a sort of irony to all of this, wouldn't you say? That ghost sought out my bottle with the intention of utilizing my wish granting ability to reshape the world, but in the end, I was freed from the bottle while he's now imprisoned in that thermos."

"He certainly got what he deserved," Paulina said, fury clouding her eyes.

Danny couldn't argue. After everything the shape shifting ghost did, not just to Jazz and the pain that put Danny and his parents through, but to all the other victims of his mad quest, the ghost deserved to remain locked up for all eternity so he could never cause more pain to anyone else.

"Well, I'm glad no one here was seriously injured during the whole fight," his mother said, and Danny cast a glance to Valerie, remembering the scratches he saw on her back at school. In her civilian clothes, it was difficult to tell, but he guessed she bandaged the wounds before meeting up with her friends. His mother stood, clapping her hands for their attention. "I'm sure all of you are feeling tired after all of this. So how about a nice big supper?"

Danny's stomach growled, as if agreeing to the suggestion. He held a hand over his stomach, blushing furiously. A few of them snickered, which only increased Danny's embarrassment.

"I can help," Paulina offered after a quiet moment passed as she stepped away from where she leaned against the wall.

With that offer, they all got up and moved to the kitchen. It felt smaller in the kitchen with so many people cramming into it, but it was also kind of nice, even with people arguing for different dinner ideas. Danny leaned back against the wall, watching the whole thing. It was almost a surprise to see Sam and Paulina weren't butting heads about what they wanted. Paulina actually questioned Sam about what she could and couldn't eat as an ultra-recyclo vegetarian, sounding curious about the whole lifestyle.

Dan came to stand next to him, quietly slipping his hand into Danny's hand.

"Disappointed you weren't there for the fight?" Danny mumbled, trying to keep their conversation private.

"Sounded like it would have been fun. Especially if I got the chance to kick Skulker's butt." Then Dan shrugged. "But I'm more relieved that neither of them hurt you." His red eyes drifted to Danny's shoulder. "Well, worse than a small snake bite."

Danny smiled up at him. "Aw, you worried about me!"

Dan glared, his mouth pressing thin. Then he pushed away from the wall, turning to Danny. The mercenary's mouth curled in a devious smirk, and Danny stared dumbly, not understanding until it was too late. Dan grabbed at his waist and began tickling the young hero mercilessly. Danny fought but couldn't stop the laughter from escaping him. He twisted around, attempting to get away from the mercenary, until Dan held him tightly with his arms wrapped around the hero's waist as Danny recovered from laughing so much.

"Of course I worried," Dan mumbled quietly, perhaps thinking Danny wouldn't hear him.

They only had a few moments to stand like that before Danny's mother interpreted with the announcement of dinner being ready. They broke apart and joined everyone else to enjoy the various dishes made for their dinner.


	84. Chapter 84

Danny didn't know what he expected when he went to school the next day. Hardly anyone was present when the attack took place since it was after school when most students already left. Obviously, no one would be throwing any parades. Mostly it felt like the same old average day of school. The A Listers mostly ignored him when he walked past them on his way to his locker. He caught Paulina's eye for a brief moment, one corner of her mouth pulling slightly upward before she refocused her attention on what Star was saying. A hole still punctured the locker near their group from the arrow that narrowly missed Dash's head.

There were whispers, of course, about what happened, most of them greatly exaggerated. The A Listers would jump in whenever they overheard someone talking about it to correct their misunderstandings of the event. Perhaps not all of them were present for the attack, but Paulina and Valerie must have explained what they saw to the other A Listers, while leaving out Valerie's role in all of it and that Danny was Phantom.

Danny stopped in the middle of the hall, ignoring the students passing by him. His gaze was focused on where he created the cage of chains to trap the shape shifting ghost. Maybe it hadn't worked completely, but it was enough to save him at the time. He was still impressed with himself for pulling off the idea since he never tried to create anything out of his ecto energy before other than shields and energy balls. The success made him eager to test out other possibilities with the ability. Being able to shape his energy into anything had unlimited possibilities.

"I do hope last night's excitement didn't interfere with your homework."

Danny jumped then twisted around to face his teacher. "M-Mr. Lancer!" His gaze darted about the hall, but the other students were too busy chatting with each other and heading to classes to pay attention to them. "I, um, what?"

Lancer frowned, giving Danny the usual stern look he used for when he knew students were trying to play dumb with him. "I hope you're aware that the school has security cameras."

Danny gulped because, yes, he did know about the security cameras. But when the attack happened, he wasn't even thinking about them. Skulker was hunting Phantom down and already endangered the life of a student. Danny's first thought was to change into Phantom quickly to confront Skulker. Even though he should have been aware of the security cameras, he thought he was safe from exposing his identity when he rounded the corner into an empty side hall with Tucker and Sam.

"I can explain!" Danny said, managing to keep from shouting at the teacher in his desperation. "May - Maybe not entirely. Um," he held up a finger, "just give me a moment."

"Danny," Lancer sighed with a shake of his head, "I'm not going to reprimand you."

"You're not?" Danny lifted an eyebrow, confusion making his mind spin like a top.

Lancer leaned in close, lowering his voice. "Phantom has done a lot of good for this town and provided a good influence on people. I'm sure his sister would be proud of the path he's chosen. However, I do hope in the future he can try to keep his fighting to off school property so we can avoid even more damage."

Danny winced, remembering the hole now serving as the doorway to Lancer's office. "Sorry about that, and about the bottle."

"The bottle I don't mind so much." Lancer shrugged as he stood up straighter. "My sister is always finding stuff like that to send to me as gifts. And the video didn't have sound so I can't say for certain what happened, but it seems to have done some good to destroy the bottle."

"Yeah." Danny rubbed at his neck, feeling a little awkward discussing this with his teacher. How many more people were going to learn of his secret? "That ghost didn't really deserve to be trapped in that bottle forever."

Lancer nodded, not asking any more questions about the attack. "But I do hope this won't cause your grades to suffer."

"No, Sir!" Danny answered promptly. "Keeping my grades up is my first priority."

"Good." Lancer nodded. "I'm glad to hear that. And it's quite unfortunate. After reviewing the security tapes from yesterday, I seem to have hit a wrong button and erased everything before anyone else could see what happened. Ah, technology! So confusing sometimes." He winked.

"Thanks." Danny smiled, fighting back a laugh. Lancer was someone Danny knew he could confide in and would keep his secret, even if Danny never planned on telling him that particular secret. "I really appreciate it."

Lancer placed a hand on Danny's shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze. Then he walked down the hall, keeping an eye out for any misbehaving students.

"What was that all about?" Tucker asked, his friends coming up behind him.

"Lancer knows."

"What?" Sam gave him a flat stare like it wasn't even a surprise to her anymore.

"I couldn't really help it!" Danny turned and walked down the hall to their lockers, his friends falling into step beside him. "Skulker was attacking. He could find me even if I didn't change into Phantom, but I definitely wasn't going to face him as just Danny Fenton. The security cameras caught me, but Lancer took care of the footage before anyone could see it."

"Well, that's a plus," Tucker said. "So he's not going to tell anyone about you?"

"Come on." Danny nudged his friend in the ribs. "It's Lancer. He never goes blabbing people's secrets." He opened his locker and grabbed a few books. "But I'm kind of worried about how many more people are going to end up figuring it out at this rate. It feels like every time I turn around someone else is putting it together and catching me changing somehow."

"At least it's been people who are willing to keep your secret," Sam said. "Though I was worried about Paulina when she found out. Surprisingly, she's remained silent."

"She's really not that bad when you give her the chance." Danny stuffed his books into his bag then closed his locker.

"I'll admit. I was impressed with how interested she seemed in the whole ultra-recyclo vegetarian lifestyle." Sam frowned slightly, almost like she was annoyed with that fact. "I guess if she can act like that around me, then she can't be all bad."

"See?" Danny grinned when Sam rolled her eyes. They parted ways when it was time to head to their classes.

\----------

"What's this?" Danny asked when Elle blocked his way, holding out a small black box with a pale blue ribbon slapped onto one corner. His eyebrow arched as he stared curiously at the box.

Months passed since he defeated the shape shifting ghost and Skulker was locked up, and now it was May. Elle joined Casper High when the second semester started. It didn't take her long to settle in and get comfortable with her classes. She had less trouble keeping up with her school work, which made her a lot happier. School was no longer a source of frustration for her, and she admitted to actually enjoying her classes now that she could understand what was being taught.

Elle didn't care about the whole A List versus losers labels, which were so strongly in place at Casper High. She spent time with Danny and his friends then she would go talk with Valerie and her friends. Danny was just happy to see her making friends since he knew she didn't have a lot of friends at her old school. He didn't even want to think about how lonely it must have been to be in that kind of situation. Though it sounded like a place Jazz might have liked, with the challenging academics, but he also believed his sister preferred Casper High.

"Well," Elle said, tilting her head to the side as her eyes rolled before landing back on him, "I wanted to get you something as a thanks for everything you've done to help me out and stuff. But I couldn't really think of anything super awesome and fitting, so I just got you this."

Danny chuckled as he took the black box from her. Elle didn't even know how much help he was giving. Their tutoring sessions petered out as she didn't need his help as much for school work now. But he still appeared at her house as Phantom to help her learn to control her powers, which got better over the months. When he opened the box, he couldn't stop the snorting laugh that left him.

"A rocket shaped chocolate bar?" Danny pulled out the clear wrapped chocolate bar. "Where did you even find something like this?"

Elle shrugged. "It was by total accident, but I thought you'd like it."

Danny smiled as he tucked the box under his arm. Then he tore open the wrapper and broke the chocolate bar in half. "My sister always said chocolate tastes best when you share it with someone," he explained as he held one half of the chocolate out for Elle to take. "Of course, then she kept the good chocolate to herself and always left the icky coconut filled ones for me." He made a face, sticking out his tongue. "Never liked those ones."

Elle laughed as she took her half of the chocolate bar. "I guess that's one plus to being an only child. I don't have to worry about getting stuck with the gross chocolates."

"So how is everything going?" Danny bit into his half of the chocolate bar. "With, like, home and stuff?"

"Better." Elle nodded. "My dad listens more to me. He let me get a small part time job. Okay. It's in the mail room at Axion Labs, and I got it because he gave me the job and assigned my hours, and I can't be fired if I have some school engagement that prevents me from being late and stuff. But I'm earning money doing the work myself. I put a portion of it away for savings, but I'm putting the rest into helping out orphans and the people who really need it. It's," she looked away, chewing on her lower lip, "not very much right now though."

"That's great! It's start, and I'm sure they appreciate you're doing your best to help out." Danny smiled proudly at his friend.

Elle's cheeks blushed pink. "Oh, and I heard from Ember over the weekend. She still won't say where she is or anything like that, but she seems to be doing well. She says she's really putting all her focus into her music."

Danny nodded. "I'm glad she's doing all right and is keeping in touch."

"Hey," Valerie popped up between them, "ready to head to the Nasty Burger?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to give Danny something first," Elle explained.

"I'll catch you later." Danny popped the remainder of the chocolate bar into his mouth then waved as he turned to walk down the hall.

After waking up from the coma, Police Chief Gray made a steady recovery and returned to office. Getting used to the prosthetic arm took a while, according to Valerie, but he was getting the hang of it. A week after Police Chief Gray woke up, the mayor announced publicly that the Guys in White were no longer welcomed in Amity Park, especially after the property damage and injuries to innocent civilians caused on their watch. The mayor assured he was working with Police Chief Gray to return order to the town and keep everyone safe. Danny wouldn't be surprised if the mayor used this to help sway voters when elections rolled around.

His after school activities quieted down a bit. He helped out with common criminals, like he promised he would, but few of his opponents were ghosts. He kept up with training his abilities, practicing forming various things with his ecto energy. He trained how to fight with his mother and Dan, even sparring with Valerie sometimes. Dan spent a lot more of his time at Danny's house, learning to control his ghostly powers in the safety of the laboratory.

Desiree hung around, eager to learn and catch up on all the time she missed out on while trapped in the bottle. At one point, Danny noticed the deep concentration on Desiree's face when she was peering over his shoulders at one of his textbooks. When he asked her about it, she admitted she didn't know how to read or write. Her bottle was passed to some people who were foreigners, but when she couldn't understand them, one foreigner wished for her to be able to understand all languages.

"Just because I understand them when spoken doesn't mean I can understand them when it comes to written language," Desiree explained, frowning.

Danny was more than happy to help teach her how to read and write, and he did his best answering any questions Desiree had about the world today and history. "But, you know," he said one night while he was studying, "if it makes you more comfortable, I'm sure Valerie and Paulina would be happy to help you too. I just mean that you seem more at ease when you're talking to other women."

Desiree smiled at him, though it was tinged with a hint of sadness. "I'm becoming more comfortable around men, but," she winced slightly, "it's still a difficult thing for me."

Danny nodded. He didn't know what happened to her in the past, so he couldn't fully understand what she was going through. But Desiree was trying to work through her issues, and Danny was happy for her. After that conversation, Desiree spent time studying with Valerie and Paulina too.

After his homework was finished for the day, Danny went on patrol. Some nights, it didn't take long for his ghost sense to alert him to something happening. Danny spotted police cars parked outside a little diner on the corner of one street in a pretty poor part of Amity Park. He dropped down and landed near the head officer, recognizing the man from a previous encounter.

"Officer Eaton, what's the situation?"

"Ah, Phantom!" The man grinned. Danny worked alongside the police more over the past few months, which helped with his image, though Lance Thunder spewed out some garbage about Phantom controlling the police department somehow all over the news. Officer Eaton's expression quickly turned serious as he turned to the diner. "Earlier we got a call from one of the employees about a man taking a woman hostage inside. When we tried to approach, the man said he would slit the woman's throat open if we dared to enter the diner." His jaw set tightly, a clear sign he didn't like this situation. "You don't mind, do you?"

Danny saluted him. "I'm happy to help." He shifted to invisible then made his way toward the diner. Before he reached the door, he mumbled, "I'll get the hostage to safety. You can take the man. Just remember. The plan is knock him out and tie him up. No killing."

"We've done this enough times," Dan grumbled. "I know the plan."

"I just wanted to make sure." Danny grinned behind his mask.

Together, they slipped into the diner. The target was completely unaware to their presence. He stood near the window, occasionally peeking out to see if the police attempted to make a move. The woman he held against him remained as still as possible, her tears streaking down her cheeks. She tried to keep her sobbing quiet, but it was difficult with the fear pumping through her while the knife pressed against her neck. The few employees and other customers in the diner were huddled as far from the man as possible, not daring to do anything in fear that their action might cost the woman her life.

Danny slipped up quietly to the pair. He took hold of the woman around the waist then extended his intangibility to her. She sucked in a shaky breath, but her captor seemed completely oblivious to what happened. Danny yanked her forward, phasing her through the man's arm. With the woman safe, Danny backed away several steps, hiding the woman with invisibility.

"Who's there?" the man shouted, swinging his knife around wildly. "Where did that bit-"

Dan punched the man hard in the face. The man went down, collapsing against the wall with blood dribbling from his nose. Dan pried the knife from the man's hand before he could recover from the surprise attack. Once disarmed, the mercenary had little trouble zip tying the man's hands behind his back.

"Are you all right?" Danny asked as he dropped his invisibility.

The woman nodded, shaking from head to toe. "Y-Yes."

Danny nodded, smiling with relief behind his mask. Then he walked over and helped Dan pulling the man to his feet. They dragged the man outside, Dan remaining invisible. "One scum bag," Danny announced, handing the man over to the police, who thanked him for the help. With the job done, Danny flew off and Dan followed right behind him.

"You really didn't need my help for that," Dan said, almost frustrated with how easy it was to capture the man.

Danny shrugged. "I thought you'd like getting in on the action. You always like team ups." He twisted around to fly backwards while he watched the mercenary. "You don't always have to do this while invisible, you know."

"Yeah, but I like letting you get all the credit." Dan shrugged.

Danny landed on the roof of a clock tower. Furrowing his brow, he tilted his head as he folded his arms. "You don't want people to see you as a hero?"

Dan snorted, touching down on the edge of the roof. "I don't care what the public thinks of me. Most of them would just see me as a monster if they saw what I really looked like." He stepped up close to Danny and leaned down until their foreheads met. "The only opinions I care about are yours, your parents and friends, my friend, and the orphans I help out. Everyone else can eat shit if they want to badmouth me."

Danny frowned. "I care," he muttered. He didn't want people thinking of Dan as a monster. Danny didn't even like Dan thinking himself a monster.

Dan clapped his hands to the sides of Danny's head and pushed on the young hero's cheeks. "And that's one thing I love about you. You care so much about people."

Danny frowned, hearing a silent, "Even people like me," in Dan's voice. He could argue again and again that the mercenary wasn't a monster, and he said it on more than one occasion. But Danny knew he couldn't make Dan see himself in a different way. It was up to Dan how to see himself. All Danny could do was remind him there were people who saw him as someone worth loving.

"Well, tonight wasn't very exciting," Danny admitted. The diner was the only action they came across, and it was getting close to when his parents would expect him home from patrolling. "How about we head back and spend the rest of the night playing games?"

"Well," Dan stepped back rubbing at his chin, "I do like blowing stuff up. It's more fun in real life, of course. But I guess doing it in a game a good alternative. No lectures for doing it." There was a grin in the mercenary's voice, and Danny rolled his eyes.

"First one home gets first pick," Danny announced. He floated up a few inches from the rooftop then placed a quick kiss on Dan's lips through their masks.

"Oh!" Dan shouted after Danny took off into the sky. "A challenge! I see how it is!" He followed after the hero, swiftly flying to catch up.

"I've been flying a lot longer than you," Danny called back, keeping his lead.

"You should know better than to gloat before the race is won." Dan pushed forward, and Danny hurried to inch in front of him again.

The rest of the race to Danny's house involved them slinging teasing taunts at each other while keeping it neck and neck, making it more like a game than an actual race. They arrived at the house together, phasing right through the wall into the front room. After they removed their masks, Dan caught Danny around the waist, tugging him in close. He kissed the hero on the lips, and Danny relaxed, reaching up to thread his fingers through the fiery hair.

"What was that for?" Danny asked when they broke apart.

"Claiming my victory prize." Dan grinned.

"Oh," Danny rolled his eyes, "you think you won?"

Dan flicked his red eyes down and back up, looking Danny over, which made the eighteen year old feel somewhat self-conscious. The corner of the mercenary's mouth curled upward in a smirk. "I definitely won."

Danny snorted. "Cheese king."

"And you love it."

Danny merely rolled his eyes, unable to deny it because he did like it. He liked when Dan would text him cheesy messages or open with random space related lyrics. He liked fighting crime alongside the mercenary. He enjoyed quiet moments relaxing with Dan just watching movies. He liked battling against Dan in their game. He liked that his parents accepted Dan, and they could sit and enjoy time together. Everything in his life seemed to be going great, and Danny wanted it to continue, though he was careful not to throw out a wish in case Desiree decided she wanted to grant it.

Danny wrapped his arms around the mercenary's neck and kissed Dan again. It was slow and tender. And a great distraction. Danny jumped away and snatched up a game controller. Dan barked out a protest, and their evening dissolved into them fighting and blowing stuff up in their video game.


End file.
